B 26-0725

COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
  The John A. Wilson Building
  1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, nw
  Washington, D.C. 20004
 Christina Henderson  Committee Member
 Councilmember, At-Large  Hospital and Health Equity
 Chairperson, Committee on Health  Judiciary and Public Safety
  Transportation and the Environment
  Statement of Introduction
  School Health Certificate Modernization Amendment Act of 2026
  July 6, 2026
   Today, I am pleased to introduce the School Health Certificate Modernization Amendment
Act of 2026, along with Chairman Mendelson and Councilmembers Matthew Frumin, Anita
Bonds, Janeese Lewis George, and Charles Allen. This legislation would require the Department
of Health to create a digital system for receiving certificates of health and dental health for students
attending public and private schools from health care providers and prohibit health care providers
from charging for a certificate of health or certificate of dental health. The legislation would also
require the Department of Health to create a tiered fee structure for health professional licensing
and registration based on the education level required for a health profession.
   Currently, all students attending pre-K through grade 12 in a public, public charter, private,
or independent school in the District must submit a certificate of health and certificate of dental
health completed and signed by a health provider to their school in order to attend. The process for
obtaining and submitting these forms is arcane, ineffective for protecting public health, and an
unnecessary financial and logistical burden on families. Caregivers often must pay a fee for their
pediatrician or dentist to complete and print the form. Then, the caregiver is responsible for
submitting the paper forms to the school. In many cases, these forms are lost and parents are asked
to submit the forms multiple times. At the end of this process, the health professional in the school
health suite is responsible for manually inputting the information on the form into a database. Not
surprisingly, many families do not complete this process, and there is no enforcement of the
requirement. In Fiscal Year 2025, only 28% of students had a certificate of health on file, and in
Fiscal Year 2026, to date, 13% of students had a certificate on file. Families have to go through a
similar process for dental forms, which the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)
and DC Health require even though they are not required by the D.C. Code.
   For the past four years, the Committee on Health has pressed DC Health to modernize this
process but has seen very little progress. In Fiscal Year 2024, DC Health started implementing the
first phase of a transition to an electronic system, allowing healthcare providers to submit
certificates of health electronically through a secure provider portal, but this process has stalled
because of challenges working with health systems/providers and their Electronic Health Records
vendors. DC Health has worked with DC Public Schools to allow families to upload certificates
on the Aspen electronic school registration portal, which is a modest improvement, but does not
solve the issue of families needing to pay for, obtain, and then upload forms. Furthermore, even
though families can upload the forms through Aspen, the school health professional still has to
download/print and manually enter the information into a different system.
  COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
  The John A. Wilson Building
  1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, nw
  Washington, D.C. 20004
   The legislation also updates health professional license and registration fees to better reflect
the level of profession and encourage more entry-level professionals to work in the District. DC
Health’s fees for licensed health professionals are out of step with other jurisdictions and, in some
cases, dampening interest for new health professionals to work in the District. At the DC Health
FY 2027 budget hearing, the DC Dental Society testified regarding the fee for Level 1 Dental
Assistants, an entry-level license for individuals who are just starting their careers. Currently, DC
Health charges $190 for this license, while Maryland and Virginia charge $20 and $100,
respectively. On the other hand, veterinarians only pay $215 for licensure, even though comparable
advanced degree professionals pay a much higher fee, such as physicians ($805), psychologists
($321) and dentists ($430).
  I look forward to working with my Council colleagues to make this critical investment in
food equity, economic opportunity, and public health, ensuring that all District residents—
regardless of their ZIP code—can enjoy the benefits of fresh, healthy, and locally sourced food.
1 ______________________________  ______________________________
2 Chairman Phil Mendelson  Councilmember Christina Henderson
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5 ______________________________  ______________________________
6 Councilmember Matthew Frumin  Councilmember Anita Bonds
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9 ______________________________  ______________________________
10 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George  Councilmember Charles Allen
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14A BILL
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16________________
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18IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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22 To amend the Student Health Care Act of 1985 to require the Department of Health to create a
23digital system for receiving certificates of health and oral health for students attending
24public and private schools from health care providers and to prohibit health care
25providers from charging for a certificate of health or certificate of oral health; and to
26amend section 505 of the District of Columbia Health Occupations Revision Act of 1985
27to require the Department of Health to create a tiered fee structure for health professional
28licensing and registration based on education level required for a health profession.
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30BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
31 act may be cited as the “School Health Certificate Modernization Amendment Act of 2026”.
32Sec. 2. The Student Health Care Act of 1985, effective December 3, 1985 (D.C. Law 6-
33 66; D.C. Official Code § 38-601 et seq.), is amended as follows:
34(a) Section 3 (D.C. Official Code § 38-602) is amended by adding new subsections (e)
35 and (f) to read as follows:
36“(e) Health care providers shall not charge a parent or guardian a fee or surcharge for a
37 certificate of health, certificate of testing for lead poisoning, certificate of dental health ,or any
38 other health certificate required by the Mayor for a student to attend school.
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39“(f)(1) Before the start of School Year 2028-2029, the Department of Health
40 (“Department”) shall develop and implement a digital platform for health care providers to
41 submit certificates of health and certificates of dental health required by this section directly to
42 the Department.
43“(2) The digital platform required by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall:
44“(A) Allow a public or private school administrator to see which of the
45 school’s students has submitted the required forms; and
46“(B) Not require the student’s parent or guardian to play an active role in
47 the transferring, downloading, emailing, or otherwise submission of the certificates; except, that,
48 the parent or guardian may be required to sign a consent form for their student’s health
49 information to be submitted through the portal.”.
50Sec 3. Section 505 of the District of Columbia Health Occupations Revision Act of 1985,
51 effective March 25, 1986 (D.C. Law 6-99; D.C. Official Code § 3-1205.05), is amended as
52 follows:
53(a) Subsection (a)(2) is amended by striking the phrase “fees established by the Mayor”
54 and inserting the phrase “fees established by the Mayor in accordance with subsection (a-1) of
55 this section” in its place.
56(b) A new subsection (a-1) is added to read as follows:
57“(a-1) For all fees collected pursuant to subsection (a)(2) of this section, the Mayor shall
58 establish a tiered fee structure based on the educational requirements of each health professional.
59 Fees for licenses, registrations, or certifications shall range from lowest to highest for health
60 professions in the following order:
61“(1) Does not require an undergraduate degree;
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62“(2) Requires an undergraduate degree;
63“(3) Requires a masters level degree; and
64“(4) Requires a doctoral degree.”.
65Sec. 4. Fiscal impact statement.
66The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal
67 impact statement required by section 602(c)(3) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act,
68 approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; DC. . Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(3)).
69Sec. 5. Effective date.
70This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the
71 Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30-day period of congressional
72 review as provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved
73 December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the
74 District of Columbia Register.
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