(a) The board shall determine the dental benefits to be provided to subscribers by the program. These benefits shall be consistent with those provided to state employees through the Department of Personnel Administration, the predecessor to the Department of Human Resources, on July 1, 1997, except that orthodontia shall only be a benefit when it is determined to be medically necessary.

(b) The board shall establish the required subscriber copayment levels for dental benefits. The copayment levels established by the board shall, to the extent possible, reflect the copayment levels provided to state employees through the Department of Personnel Administration, the predecessor to the Department of Human Resources, on July 1, 1997, except that no copayment shall be charged for medically necessary orthodontia services. There shall be no subscriber copayments for preventive and diagnostic services, including, but not limited to, examinations, teeth cleaning, X-rays, topical fluoride treatments, space maintainers, and sealants.

(c) No deductible shall be charged to subscribers for dental benefits.

(d) (1) The board may establish a cap on the amount of dental coverage provided to a subscriber in a given benefit year effective on and after the first day of the fifth month following enactment of the 2008–09 Budget Act. This dental coverage cap shall not be lower than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) per subscriber per benefit year.

(2) The board may adopt, and may only one-time readopt, regulations to implement paragraph (1). The adoption and one-time readoption of a regulation authorized by this paragraph is deemed to address an emergency, for purposes of Sections 11346.1 and 11349.6 of the Government Code, and the board is hereby exempted for this purpose from the requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 11346.1 of the Government Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 903, Sec. 18. (SB 1504) Effective January 1, 2019.)