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 authorizes an optometrist certified to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to diagnose and treat specified conditions, use specified pharmaceutical agents, and order specified diagnostic tests. Any violation of the act is a crime. All moneys collected pursuant to the act, except where otherwise provided, are deposited in the Optometry Fund and continuously appropriated to the board to carry out the provisions of the act. This bill would expand the scope of practice of optometrists to include administering immunizations and would require the board to grant a certificate to an optometrist for the use of immunizations if the optometrist meets certain requirements. The board would be required to set, by regulation, the fee for the issuance and renewal of a certificate for the use of immunizations, at the reasonable cost of regulating the certified optometrists, not to exceed $100. Because this bill would increase those moneys deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, it would make an appropriation. This bill would delete obsolete provisions and make conforming changes. 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.