BILL REQ. #:  S-2242.1 

READ FIRST TIME 03/05/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to increasing the supply of dentists to meet the critical shortage of dental providers in this state and underserved areas; amending RCW 18.32.215; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds and declares that access to dental care is severely hampered by a critical and emergent shortage of dental providers in Washington state. Dental disease is an epidemic among poor children, the elderly, the disabled, and anyone who does not have access to adequate dental care. Dental decay is worsening among children under four years of age, with forty-one percent of the state's Headstart children needing treatment for dental decay. The lack of qualified dentists poses a serious and compelling threat to the oral health of the people of this state.
     Shortages are also due to licensing restrictions that have discouraged qualified dentists from coming into this state. Increasing the number of dentists from other states and from military service would enable retiring dentists in this state to sell their practices to other qualified practitioners.

Sec. 2   RCW 18.32.215 and 1994 sp.s. c 9 s 219 are each amended to read as follows:
     An applicant holding a valid license and currently engaged in practice in another state may be granted a license without examination required by this chapter, on the payment of any required fees, if the ((commission determines that the other state's licensing standards are substantively equivalent to the standards in this state)) applicant is a graduate of a dental college, school, or dental department of an institution approved by the commission under RCW 18.32.040(1). The commission may also require the applicant to: (1) File with the commission documentation certifying the applicant is licensed to practice in another state; and (2) provide information as the commission deems necessary pertaining to the conditions and criteria of the Uniform Disciplinary Act, chapter 18.130 RCW, and to demonstrate to the commission a knowledge of Washington law pertaining to the practice of dentistry.