Board Meetings

2023 Board Meetings

All board meetings are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Act. The Open Meeting Law requires the Board to give notice to the public of all meetings or hearings of the Board and prohibits the Board from taking any action on an issue which has not been duly noticed. All meetings are either held according to a schedule approved in November of each year or at the call of the president of the Board. The Board meets five times a year in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. The current board meeting schedule can be obtained by clicking on the board meeting schedule icon. The Committee on Dental Auxiliaries and the Examination and Enforcement Committees generally meet the first day of the board meeting to consider issues and make recommendations to the full Board. Executive Committee meetings, ad hoc or task force committee meetings, regulatory or informational hearings may be at the call of the Board President as deemed necessary. Decisions made at Board meetings generally involve:

• Changes in general policy and statutes;
• Content and administration of examinations;
• Adoption/repeal of regulations;
• Approval of fee schedules;
• Appeals;
• Changes to procedural/operational activities;
• Enforcement issues such as, acceptance/denial of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decisions, stipulations and advancement of cases to the Office of Administrative Hearings;
• Committee member approval; and
• Acceptance or denial of committee recommendations.

Public Participation

Public participation is encouraged throughout the public portion of the meetings. The chairs of the respective committees, as well as the Board President, acknowledge comments from the audience during general discussion of agenda items. In addition, each Board agenda includes public comment as a standing item on the agenda. This standing agenda item allows the public to request issues to be placed on future agendas or discuss any issue of concern to them.

Executive Sessions

Executive sessions are not open to the public and are held to deliberate on disciplinary actions, stipulations to receive advice from the Board's legal counsel regarding pending legal actions, and/or to hear examination appeals. Executive sessions, or "closed sessions" as they are sometime called, are held in accordance with the provisions of the Open Meetings Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The current law authorizing executive session provides subjects of pending discipline the full benefit of due process as well as privacy.