BILL ANALYSIS C.S.S.B. 378 By: Moncrief Health and Human Services 04-27-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Earlier this session, S.B. 18 reestablished the State Board of Dental Examiners (board). This bill included certain changes in the rules relating to licensure of dentists trained in foreign or nonaccredited schools. Due to the fact that the board did not exist for several months, some of these dentists who had started the application process were unable to complete the process. When the board came back into existence, these dentists were still unable to obtain licensure because the rules had changed. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.S.B. 378 requires an applicant for a license to practice dentistry who is a graduate of a foreign or nonaccredited dental school who fails an examination required by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners three times to attend a two-year program before being allowed to take the examination again. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 2, Article 4545a, V.T.C.S., by adding Subsection (c), to require an applicant for a license to practice dentistry who is a graduate of a foreign or nonaccredited dental school and who fails the qualifying clinical examination required by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (board) under its rules three times to attend a two-year program at a dental school accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. Requires the board to review the two-year programs offered to fulfill the requirements of this subsection for educational sufficiency. SECTION 2. Declares that any rule or regulation relating to the procedures, fees, and requirements for licensing graduates of foreign or nonaccredited dental schools to practice dentistry in Texas adopted under Section 2, Article 4544, V.T.C.S., which was not in effect on August 31, 1994, shall not be effective until December 1, 1995. SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage. Effective date of Section 1: December 1, 1995. SECTION 4. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.