# Virginia HB970: Dental assistants; supragingival scaling and coronal polishing, certification.

Virginia HB970, Dental assistants; supragingival scaling and coronal polishing, certification., is a 2026 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Marcia S. "Cia" Price (Democratic); status signed, last action 2026-04-08 (Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0439)); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-12).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB970-2026
- As of: 2026-10-12
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: Virginia HB970
- State: Virginia
- Session: 2026 Regular Session
- Title: Dental assistants; supragingival scaling and coronal polishing, certification.
- Status: signed
- Chamber: House
- Introduced: 2026-01-13
- Last action: 2026-04-08, Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0439)
- Sponsor: Marcia S. "Cia" Price (Democratic)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Touches household money: yes
- Roll calls: 8 (200 yes, 21 no in all)
- Economic provisions PRIA read: 2

## Summary

Dental assistants; additional treatments; certification. Permits any dental assistant I or dental assistant II with a minimum of 1,800 hours of clinical experience to obtain certification pursuant to the requirements of the bill to perform supragingival scaling and coronal polishing. This bill is identical to SB 178.

## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read

- Dentists face new limits and paperwork: cost, medium. A dentist may not indirectly supervise more than two dental assistants at the same time when they perform supragingival scaling or coronal polishing. A dentist who provides or confirms training must certify under oath that the assistant completed the training and at least 20 supervised full‑mouth s…
- Certified dental assistants can scale and polish: mixed, medium. The law lets certified Dental Assistant I or II perform supragingival scaling with hand and ultrasonic scalers and do coronal polishing under a dentist’s indirect supervision. To qualify, you must have at least 1,800 clinical hours. Your training must be from one of these: a licensed dentist or hyg…

## Sponsors and cosponsors

- Sponsor: Marcia S. "Cia" Price (Democratic), House

## Roll call votes

| Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-02-23 | Senate | Passed Senate Block Vote | pass | 38 | 0 |   |
| 2026-02-20 | Senate | Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) | pass | 40 | 0 |   |
| 2026-02-20 | Senate | Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) | pass | 0 | 0 |   |
| 2026-02-19 | Senate | Reported from Education and Health | pass | 14 | 0 |   |
| 2026-02-16 | House | Read third time and passed House | pass | 78 | 20 |   |
| 2026-02-10 | House | Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute | pass | 21 | 1 |   |
| 2026-02-05 | House | Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute | pass | 9 | 0 |   |
| 2026-01-22 | House | Referred from General Laws and referred to Health and Human Services (Voice Vote) | pass | 0 | 0 |   |

## Actions (32)

- 2026-04-08: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0439) (Governor)
- 2026-04-08: Approved by Governor-Chapter 439 (effective 7/1/2026) (Governor)
- 2026-03-10: Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 (Governor)
- 2026-03-10: Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 (House)
- 2026-02-26: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB970) (House)
- 2026-02-25: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB970ER) (House)
- 2026-02-25: Enrolled (House)
- 2026-02-25: Signed by President (Senate)
- 2026-02-25: Signed by Speaker (House)
- 2026-02-23: Passed Senate Block Vote (38-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate)
- 2026-02-23: Read third time (Senate)
- 2026-02-20: Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) (Senate)
- 2026-02-20: Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate)
- 2026-02-20: Rules suspended (Senate)
- 2026-02-19: Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) (Senate)
- 2026-02-17: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB970) (House)
- 2026-02-17: Referred to Committee on Education and Health (Senate)
- 2026-02-17: Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (Senate)
- 2026-02-16: Read third time and passed House (78-Y 20-N 0-A) (House)
- 2026-02-13: Engrossed by House - committee substitute (House)
- 2026-02-13: committee substitute agreed to (House)
- 2026-02-13: Read second time (House)
- 2026-02-12: Read first time (House)
- 2026-02-10: Committee substitute printed 26107302D-H1 (House)
- 2026-02-10: Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute (21-Y 1-N) (House)
- 2026-02-05: House subcommittee offered (House)
- 2026-02-05: Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (9-Y 0-N) (House)
- 2026-01-23: Assigned sub: Health Professions (House)
- 2026-01-22: Referred from General Laws and referred to Health and Human Services (Voice Vote) (House)
- 2026-01-21: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB970) (House)
- 2026-01-13: Referred to Committee on General Laws (House)
- 2026-01-13: Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101921D (House)

## Bill text

- Chaptered, 2026-04-08: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217893.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217892.PDF)
- Enrolled, 2026-02-25: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177852.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177851.PDF)
- Substitute, 2026-02-10: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1136626.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1136625.PDF)
- Substitute, 2026-02-05: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128259.HTML), [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128628.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128258.PDF), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128627.PDF)
- Introduced, 2026-01-13: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1086725.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1086724.PDF)

## Related bills

- HB5: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties. (signed)
- SB199: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties. (signed)
- HB95: Va. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies, noncompliance with rental agreement. (signed)
- HB1393: Electric utilities; pilot program for energy assistance and weatherization for certain individuals. (signed)
- HB834: Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; fire or casualty damage, termination by landlord. (signed)
- HB675: Protection of employees; coercion or threat based on immigration status, civil penalty. (signed)

## Sources
- [Chaptered (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217893.HTML)
- [Chaptered (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217892.PDF)
- [Enrolled (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177852.HTML)
- [Enrolled (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177851.PDF)
- [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1136626.HTML)
- [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1136625.PDF)
- [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128259.HTML)
- [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128628.HTML)
- [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128258.PDF)
- [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128627.PDF)
- [Introduced (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1086725.HTML)
- [Introduced (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1086724.PDF)

## Related
- [HB5: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB5-2026)
- [SB199: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB199-2026)
- [HB95: Va. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies, noncompliance with…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB95-2026)
- [HB1393: Electric utilities; pilot program for energy assistance and weatherization for…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1393-2026)
- [HB834: Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; fire or casualty damage, terminat…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB834-2026)
- [HB675: Protection of employees; coercion or threat based on immigration status, civil…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB675-2026)
- [Virginia bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia/bills)
- [Virginia state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia)
- [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB970-2026 (as of 2026-10-12).