BILL NUMBER: AB 1253	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Steinorth

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act to amend Section 3151.1 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to optometry.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1253, as introduced, Steinorth. Optometry: license: retired
volunteer service designation.
   The Optometry Practice Act provides for the licensure and
regulation of the practice of optometry by the State Board of
Optometry and makes a violation of the act a crime. The act requires
the board to issue, upon application and payment of a specified fee,
a retired license to an optometrist with a current and active
license, and prohibits the holder of a retired license from engaging
in the practice of optometry. The act authorizes the holder of a
retired license issued for less than 3 years to reactivate the
license to active status if certain requirements have been met,
including, the filing of an application for reactivation on a form
prescribed by the board. The act authorizes the holder of a retired
license issued for more than 3 years to reactivate the license to
active status if certain additional requirements have been met,
including, that the holder of the retired license passes both the
National Board of Examiners in Optometry's Clinical Skills
examination, or other clinical examination approved by the board, and
the board's jurisprudence examination. The act requires the board to
issue a license with retired volunteer service designation to an
optometrist who holds a retired license or a license that is current
and active upon application and payment of a specified fee if the
applicant certifies that he or she has completed the required
continuing education hours. The act requires the applicant for a
license with retired volunteer service designation to, among other
things, certify that the sole purpose of the license with retired
volunteer service designation is to provide voluntary, unpaid
optometric services at health fairs, vision screenings, and public
service eye programs.
   This bill would limit the existing requirement that the board
issue a license with retired volunteer service designation to an
optometrist who holds a retired license to an optometrist who holds a
retired license issued for less than 3 years. The bill would require
the board to issue, upon application and payment of a specified fee,
a license with retired volunteer service designation to an
optometrist who holds a retired license issued for 3 years or more,
if that licensee meets all the requirements for an optometrist to
reactivate his or her retired license issued for more than 3 years,
as described above, and satisfies all other requirements of an
applicant for a license with retired volunteer service designation.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 3151.1 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   3151.1.  (a) The board shall issue, upon application and payment
of the fee described in Section 3152, a license with retired
volunteer service designation to an optometrist who holds a retired
license  issued for less than three years  or a license that
is current and active. 
   (b) The board shall issue, upon application and payment of the fee
described in Section 3147.6, a license with volunteer service
designation to the holder of a retired license issued for three years
or more if he or she satisfies all the requirements of Section
3147.6.  
   (b) 
    (   c)  The applicant shall certify on the
application that he or she has completed the required number of
continuing education hours pursuant to Section 3059. 
   (c) 
    (   d)  The applicant shall certify on the
application that the sole purpose of the license with retired
volunteer service designation is to provide voluntary, unpaid
optometric services at health fairs, vision screenings, and public
service eye programs. 
   (d) 
    (   e)  The holder of the retired license with
volunteer service designation shall submit a biennial renewal
application, with a fee fixed by this chapter and certify on each
renewal that the required number of continuing education hours
pursuant to Section 3059 were completed, and certify that the sole
purpose of the retired license with volunteer service designation is
to provide voluntary, unpaid services as described in subdivision
(c).  Pursuant to Section 3146, the license expires at midnight
on the last day of the licenseholder's birth month every two years if
not renewed.