Optometry: COVID-19 pandemic: temporary licenses.

The Optometry Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of optometry by the State Board of Optometry. The act prohibits engaging in the practice of optometry without an optometrist license from the board. The act requires, in order for an applicant to obtain a license to practice optometry in California, that the applicant have graduated from an accredited school of optometry, passed the required examinations for licensure, not have met any of certain grounds for denial, and not be currently required to register as a sex offender. Existing law specifies that a violation of the act is a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment, as provided. The act also authorizes the board to take action against all persons guilty of violating the act or regulations of the board. The act requires the board to enforce and administer its enforcement provisions as to licenseholders, including those who hold a retired license, a license with a retired volunteer designation, or an inactive license. This bill would establish provisions for temporary licensure. The bill would require the board to issue a temporary license to practice optometry to any person who applies for and is eligible for licensure under existing law, but who is unable to immediately take the required examination for licensure due to the state of emergency, proclaimed by the Governor on March 4, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would establish an application fee. The bill would require the applicant to satisfy prescribed additional conditions for issuance of a temporary license. The bill would require that a temporary licensee practice under the direct supervision of a supervising optometrist, as described. The bill would prohibit a temporary licensee, during the timeframe in which that licensee holds a temporary license, from opening their own optometric office or place of practice. The bill would define terms for these purposes. Under the bill, a temporary license would expire upon the date that the temporary licensee completes all of the requirements for licensure or 6 months after the date the state of emergency, proclaimed by the Governor in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, whichever occurs first. The bill would require the supervising optometrist to submit to the board any violations of the act committed by the temporary licensee within a certain timeframe. The bill would require a person requesting to be a temporary licensee and a person requesting to be a supervising optometrist to apply to the board using an application in substantially a specified form and making certain declarations under penalty of perjury, as prescribed. The bill would provide that the board is not required to adopt regulations to carry out these provisions. The bill would require the board to enforce and administer its enforcement provisions against holders of a temporary license. By establishing new requirements for temporary licensure and the supervision of temporary licensees, the violation of which would be a crime, and expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would 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 declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.