BILL NUMBER: SB 492 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 16, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 1, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hernandez
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to repeal and add Sections 3041 and 3041.2 of the Business
and Professions Code, relating to optometry.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 492, as amended, Hernandez. Optometrist: practice: licensure.
The Optometry Practice Act creates the State Board of Optometry,
which licenses optometrists and regulates their practice. Existing
law defines the practice of optometry to include, among other things,
the prevention and diagnosis of disorders and dysfunctions of the
visual system, and the treatment and management of certain disorders
and dysfunctions of the visual system, as well as the provision of
rehabilitative optometric services, and doing certain things,
including, but not limited to, the examination of the human eyes, the
determination of the powers or range of human vision, and the
prescribing of contact and spectacle lenses. Existing law provides
that the State Board of Optometry is required, by regulation, to
establish educational and examination requirements for licensure to
ensure the competence of optometrists to practice. Any violation of
the act is a crime.
This bill would delete the definition of the practice of optometry
and would instead provide that a licensed optometrist would be
authorized to perform certain health-related services, including, but
not limited to, examining, preventing, diagnosing, and treating any
disease, condition, or disorder of the visual system, the human eye,
and adjacent and related structures of the visual system ,
prescribing appropriate drugs, including narcotics, and
administering immunizations and to diagnose other common primary
care conditions that have ocular manifestations . The
bill would also authorize an optometrist, who is operating under a
protocol with a physician and surgeon or a health care
facility, or participating in a specified system of care in which the
patient is being otherwise treated, to initiate treatment and manage
medications for those diagnosed conditions. The bill would
require the board to require applicants for licensure to successfully
complete specified examinations, and would authorize the board to
require the passage of additional examinations with regard to
competency to utilize diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical
agents, if not covered by the required examinations.
Because this bill would change the definition of a crime, it would
create a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 3041 of the Business and Professions Code is
repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 3041 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
3041. (a) An optometrist license authorizes the holder to do all
of the following:
(1) Examine, prevent, diagnose, and treat any disease, condition,
or disorder of the visual system, the human eye, and adjacent and
related structures of the visual system .
(2) The use or prescription of appropriate drugs, including
narcotic substances other than those listed in Schedule 1.
(3) The performance of minor surgical and nonsurgical
primary eye care procedures requiring no more than topical
or local anesthetic, or both , consistent with an optometrist's
education and training .
(4) The use or prescription of visual therapy, ocular exercises or
vision habilitation, and rehabilitation services.
(5) The performance or ordering of appropriate laboratory and
diagnostic imaging tests.
(b) An optometrist may administer immunizations.
(c) In addition to diagnosing and treating conditions of the
visual system pursuant to subdivision (a), an optometrist may
diagnose other common primary care conditions that have
ocular manifestations , initiate treatment, and, in
consultation with a physician, manage medications for these
conditions .
(d) In addition to the authority provided in subdivisions (a) to
(c), inclusive, an optometrist who is operating under a protocol with
a physician and surgeon or a health care facility, or participating
in a medical home, accountable care organization, or other system of
care in which the patient is being otherwise treated, may initiate
treatment and manage medications for conditions diagnosed pursuant to
subdivision (c).
SEC. 3. Section 3041.2 of the Business and Professions Code is
repealed.
SEC. 4. Section 3041.2 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
3041.2. (a) The State Board of Optometry shall establish, by
regulation, educational and examination requirements for licensure to
ensure the competence of optometrists to practice.
(b) On and after January 1, 2014, the board shall require each
applicant for licensure to successfully complete the Part I, Part II,
and Part III examinations of the National Board of Examiners in
Optometry.
(c) On and after January 1, 2014, the board shall require each
applicant for licensure to successfully complete an examination in
California law and ethics developed and administered by the board.
(d) On and after January 1, 2014, the board may require passage of
additional examinations to ensure the competency of licentiates to
utilize diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, if not
otherwise covered by the examinations required pursuant to
subdivisions (a) and (b).
SEC. 5. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.