As the sponsor of HB 1847, I want to address the misinformation in Paul Hamby's recent editorial in the February 18 edition of the Cuba Free Press. Mr. Hamby doesn’t live in our community, so he may not be aware of the dental healthcare shortages we face across Missouri.
My entire objective in trying to pass HB 1847 is to reduce bureaucratic red tape to make it easier for licensed dentists and dental hygienists to be mobile in today’s world and come to Missouri to provide dental care to our citizens.
I want to support President Trump’s Make America Heathy Again agenda, which is why HB 1847 was drafted by and supported by the President’s Department of War. The Department of War even assumed the cost to draft the dental compact. HB 1847 is also a product of President Trump’s Executive Order on Increasing Economic and Geographic Mobility.
Mr. Hamby claims this bill "hands over lawmaking to a third party." That's false. I would never sponsor legislation that surrenders Missouri's authority. The Missouri Dental Board retains complete control over how dentistry is practiced in our state. The Commission only administers the interstate privilege system, nothing more. Missouri law and the Missouri Dental Board remain supreme. This is very clear on page 15, lines 42-55 of the bill.
His assertion that Missouri can't exit the compact is wrong. The bill explicitly provides a quick, simple and straight forward withdrawal process for Missouri to exit. This is very clear on page 30, lines 28 – 40.
Regarding transparency, the bill requires all Commission meetings be open to the public, mandates public hearings before any rules are adopted, and requires annual financial reviews. That's extensive accountability and is very clear on pages 19 – 25 of HB 1847.
I sponsored this bill because Missouri's current system isn’t working. Right now, dentists need five years of practice before they can even apply for Missouri licensure, and out-of-state dentists can only volunteer for 14 days per year with no payment allowed. This helps nobody.
Rural Missouri has dental deserts. Military spouses at Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base need to work when transferred here. The current system blocks both.
Missouri is a part of over 50 compacts, including nine recent occupational compacts – virtually identical to HB 1847. In fact, six of Missouri’s border states have already passed identical bills to HB 1847. I’m not going to sit by and let Missouri fall further behind while states around us will benefit from the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact. Speaking to Representative Durnell’s question as to whether I had read the “original” compact. I found this question to be confusing and irrelevant. I did not know which “original compact” she was referring to and I was presenting this bill and this compact, which I was very familiar with. Therefore, I answered “no, I had not read the original compact”.
HB 1847 passed the House of Representatives with 138 to 10 with strong bipartisan support. The Nursing Compact has operated successfully for 25 years using this same exact model. Missouri should join proven solutions, not cling to outdated broken systems. Now that you have the facts, if you called your senator to oppose the bill, you may want to give them a call back.
Missouri Representative John Hewkin
District 120
