We just received notice that our bill HB 17 for Dental Therapist-Hygienist Licensure has finally been scheduled to be heard by the House Business & Industry Committee TODAY, March 7 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 309.

Thank you for all of your calls to the Roundhouse - they really helped us get this bill heard!

The New Mexico Dental Association's (NMDA) bill to delay dental therapist-hygienists in NM by 8-10 years will also be heard in this committee today, same time and place. The dentists will be present at the committee in force. We need your attendance to help us support HB 17 for New Mexican families, and oppose the NMDA bill which stalls solutions to New Mexico's oral health crisis for almost another decade.

The senate companion bill to HB 17 was tabled in the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Tuesday. The opposition effectively used misinformation to create unjustified concerns on the part of some committee members. They also portrayed the nonprofit organizations supporting this bill as "well meaning but misguided."

This is therefore our last chance to get our bill heard in committee. It is a challenging committee, whose chair person's personal dentist is the former president of the NMDA and has been one of the strongest dental therapy opponents in NM. However, it is a committee with several new committee members as well.

HB 17 is a solution to our dental care crisis that also emphasizes cultural competency, is homegrown, and is community based. Let's not let this chance slip through our fingers.

Please attend House Business & Industry today at 1:30 p.m. to support HB 17, and stand up for a solution that will help families today - not push the issue to the back burner. We need your support.