Plain English Breakdown
The official text contains conflicting timeframes (60 days vs. 90 days) due to editing marks; the summary uses '60 days' as it appears in the final phrasing of the amendment.
AB-873: Changes to Dental Assistant Infection Control Training
This bill changes the rules for infection control training courses and fees for dental assistants in California.
What This Bill Does
- Limits the fee for reviewing certain course applications, including those not accredited by a board-approved agency or the Chancellor's office of the California Community Colleges, to no more than $300.
- Requires employers to ensure new dental assistants finish an approved infection control course within 60 days of starting work at the dental office.
- Allows dental assistants to use video-based courses with specific classroom and lab hours instead of only in-person classes.
- Removes the requirement for unregistered dental assistants not enrolled in a board-approved program to complete a separate certification course.
- Requires employers to provide bloodborne pathogen training before an assistant handles infectious materials and every year after that.
Who It Names or Affects
- Dental assistants working in California
- Employers of dental assistants, such as dental offices
- Course providers who teach infection control classes
Terms To Know
- Infection Control Course
- A training class that teaches how to prevent the spread of disease in a dental setting.
- Bloodborne Pathogen Training
- Education about diseases carried by blood and other body fluids, required for workers who might touch these materials.
- Provisional Approval
- Temporary permission given to a course that mostly meets the rules but needs more review before full approval; it expires after one year or upon final decision.
Limits and Unknowns
- The official text ends abruptly, so it does not list all reasons why the board might withdraw approval from a course.
- This document describes what the law requires but does not state when it will officially take effect because no effective date is listed.