Registered Dispensing Opticians: Dispensing Opticians Fund: Optometry Fund: mobile optometric offices.

Existing law provides for the registration and regulation of dispensing opticians, spectacle lens dispensers, nonresident contact lens sellers, and contact lens dispensers by the State Board of Optometry and requires certain fees and fines in connection therewith to be paid to the board. Existing law establishes the Dispensing Opticians Fund and requires that these fees and fines be paid into that fund, and provides that the funds be available, upon appropriation, to the board for specified purposes. Existing law, the Optometry Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of optometrists by the board and requires certain fees and fines in connection therewith to be paid to the board. The act establishes the Optometry Fund and requires that these fees and fines be paid into that fund, and provides that the funds, unless otherwise provided, be available, upon appropriation, to the board in order to carry out the purposes of the act. This bill would abolish the Dispensing Opticians Fund on July 1, 2022, and would require that any moneys in that fund be transferred to the Optometry Fund before July 1, 2022. The bill would make various related conforming changes. Existing law provides that specified provisions of the Medical Practice Act that are not inconsistent or in conflict with certain provisions of law relating to the registration and regulation of dispensing opticians apply to the issuance, and govern the expiration and renewal, of certificates of registration issued to dispensing opticians. This bill would delete that provision. The Optometry Practice Act requires each licensed optometrist, before engaging in the practice of optometry, to notify the board in writing of the address or addresses where the optometrist is to engage in the practice of optometry and of any changes in their place of practice. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would define "mobile optometric office" to mean a trailer, van, or other means of transportation in which the practice of optometry is performed and which is not affiliated with an approved optometry school in California. The bill would limit ownership of a mobile optometric office to a tax-exempt nonprofit or charitable organization that provides optometric services to patients regardless of the patient's ability to pay. The bill would require the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office to register with the board and to provide specified information on registering. The bill would prohibit the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office from accepting payment for services other than those provided to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The bill would require the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office to file a quarterly report with the board and to provide a consumer notice prescribed by the board to patients. The bill would require the board, by January 1, 2022, to adopt regulations establishing a registry for mobile optometric offices and to set a registration fee at an amount not to exceed the costs of administration. The bill would authorize the board to adopt regulations to conduct quality assurance reviews for optometrists engaging in the practice of optometry at a mobile optometric office. The bill would prohibit the board from bringing an enforcement action against an owner and operator of a mobile optometric office based solely on its affiliation status with an approved optometry school in California for remotely providing optometric service before January 1, 2022. The bill would require the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office to maintain records, as prescribed, to be made available to the board upon request for inspection. The bill would require a licensed optometrist who provides patient care in conjunction with a mobile optometric office to obtain a statement of licensure with the mobile optometric office's address as registered with the board. The bill would require, if the licensee is not practicing optometry at a location other than with the owner and operator of the mobile optometric office, that the licensee list as their primary address of record the owner and operator of the mobile optometric office's address as registered with the board. The bill would repeal these mobile optometric office provisions on July 1, 2024. Because this bill would expand the scope of an existing crime, it would therefore impose 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 205 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 1474 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1474 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.