LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 81ST LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 26, 2009

TO:	Honorable Lois W. Kolkhorst, Chair, House Committee on Public Health
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB168 by Crownover (Relating to the regulation of the practice of dental hygiene.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB168, As Introduced: an impact of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2011.

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2010	$0
2011	$0
2012	$0
2013	$0
2014	$0

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable (Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1	Probable Revenue Gain from General Revenue Fund 1	Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2009
2010	($38,746)	$38,746	1.0
2011	($33,660)	$33,660	1.0
2012	($33,660)	$33,660	1.0
2013	($33,660)	$33,660	1.0
2014	($33,660)	$33,660	1.0

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would amend the Occupations Code relating to the regulation and practice of dental hygiene. The bill would provide legal authority for dental hygienists to administer local anethesia under direct delegation authority of the dentist.

The bill would require the Board of Dental Examiners to establish a rule for dental hygienists to take a Commission On Dental Accreditation (CODA)-approved local anesthesia course and pass a board approved exam in order to apply for the permit to administer local anethesia.

Methodology

The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners estimates that 900 licensed dental hygienists would apply for the local anesthesia certificate and that programming changes to its licensing database and Texas Online interface would be required to capture the new certificate in the database.

The agency estimates one additional FTE would be required to issue the certification due to the number of hygienists who would apply for the certification. Based on information provided by the agency, it is assumed that initial programming costs of $3,156 and equipment costs of $1,930 occuring in fiscal year 2010 would be necessary to implement the provisions of the bill in addition to salary costs of $26,180 and benefits costs of $7,480 each fiscal year.

Since the agency is statutorily required to generate revenues sufficient to cover its costs of operation, this analysis assumes that the agency would adjust license fees as necessary to cover any additional costs associated with the implementation of this bill.

Technology

The agency anticipates that programming changes would be required to implement the provisions of the bill. These changes would require 4 hours of analysis, adding a new field to dataset and screens, modifying initial application programs to allow new endorsements, modifying renewal programs, printing changes for the certificates, test screens, renewals and Web interface, and modifying the TexasOnline interface. These changes would be contracted with the agency's database administrator. The total technology costs are anticipated to be $3,156.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 504 Texas State Board of Dental Examiners

LBB Staff:

JOB, CL, MW, ES