(1) Existing law, the Optometry Practice Act, until January 1, 2026, establishes the State Board of Optometry within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the licensure and regulation of the practice of optometry. Under existing law, the board is responsible for the licensure and regulation of registered dispensing opticians, defined to mean spectacle lens dispensers, contact lens dispensers, nonresident ophthalmic lens dispensers, or registered dispensing ophthalmic businesses, as those terms are further defined. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes the board to appoint an executive officer to perform duties delegated by the board. Existing law establishes the Optometry Fund in the State Treasury and requires all money collected under the act to be paid into that fund and to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to carry out the provisions of the act. Existing law prohibits the board from maintaining a reserve balance in the fund that is greater than 6 months of the appropriated operating expenses of the board in any fiscal year. Existing law makes a violation of the act, or the above-described provisions governing registered dispensing opticians, a crime.
This bill would extend the operation of the board and the authority to appoint an executive officer to January 1, 2030. The bill would increase the maximum permitted reserve balance in the fund to 24 months of the appropriated operating expenses of the board, as specified.
(2) Existing law prohibits a person from engaging in the practice of optometry without a valid, unrevoked California optometrist license and prohibits an individual from holding themselves out as a registered dispensing optician without, at that time, having a valid, unrevoked certificate. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure or registration with the board to meet certain requirements, including submitting an application on forms furnished by the board and providing satisfactory proof of having passed certain examinations. Existing law requires the applicant for an optometry license to execute an acknowledgement under penalty of perjury that the information provided is true and correct, as specified.
This bill would authorize the board to issue a probationary registration to an applicant subject to terms and conditions, including, but not limited to, enrollment and successful completion of a clinical training program. The bill would require an applicant for licensure, registration, or renewal of licensure or registration who possesses a valid email address, as defined, to report that email address to the board at the time of application. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that information sent from an email account of the board to a valid email address provided by an applicant, registrant, or licensee is presumed to have been delivered to the provided email address.
(3) Existing law prohibits a person located outside California from shipping, mailing, furnishing, or delivering in any manner, ophthalmic lenses at retail to a patient at a California address unless the person is registered with the board. Existing law requires a person subject to registration as described above to ship, mail, furnish, or deliver directly to a patient only spectacle lenses and replacement contact lenses provided pursuant to a valid prescription, as specified.
This bill would specify that the above-described provisions also apply to entities outside California.
(4) Under existing law, registered dispensing opticians are given certain powers and duties, regardless of their specific registration designation. In this regard, existing law authorizes a registered dispensing optician to fit and adjust spectacle lenses and frames or take facial measurements, as specified. Existing law also requires a registered dispensing optician who fits and adjusts spectacle lenses at a health facility or business location to provide to the patient certain written information.
This bill would revise the above-described provisions applicable to registered dispensing opticians to, instead, only apply to registered spectacle lens dispensers. By removing the authority of certain registrants to fit and adjust spectacle lenses and frames or take facial measurements under the provisions governing registered dispensing opticians, the violation of which is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law requires a registered dispensing optician fitting contact lenses to maintain accessible handwashing facilities on the premises, as specified. Existing law also requires a registered dispensing optician to comply with certain requirements related to eye examinations, contact lens fittings, and prescriptions, including a prohibition on conditioning the availability of an eye examination, contact lens fitting, or the release of a contact lens prescription on the patient agreeing to purchase contact lenses from that prescriber.
This bill would revise the above-described provisions applicable to registered dispensing opticians to, instead, only apply to registered contact lens dispensers.
(5) Existing law requires, until July 1, 2035, the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office, as defined, to, among other things, register with the board. Existing law requires the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office to file a quarterly report, except as specified, on a form furnished by the board containing certain information, including a summary of all complaints received by each mobile optometric office, the disposition of those complaints, and referral information.
This bill would instead require the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office to file that report annually, on or before January 1, and would delete the requirement for the report to include the above-described complaint and referral information.
(6) Existing law required the board to issue a temporary license to practice optometry to a person who, among other things, applied for and was eligible for licensure, as specified, but who was unable to immediately take the Section III - Clinical Skills Examination due to the state of emergency, proclaimed by the Governor on March 4, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In connection with that temporary license, existing law imposed various requirements and restrictions on a temporary licensee and provided that a temporary license would expire upon the date the temporary licensee completed all requirements for licensure, as specified, or 6 months after the end of the state of emergency, whichever occurred first.
The act also requires the board to issue, upon application and payment of a specified fee, a retired license to an optometrist who holds a license that is current and active and, among other things, exempts a retired licensee from continuing education requirements, as specified.
This bill would require the board to issue, upon application and payment of a specified fee, a retired license to an optometrist who holds a license that is current.
This bill would also make a nonsubstantive change to update the name of the above examination.
(7) Existing law requires a prescriber or a registered dispensing optician, upon completion of an eye examination or, if applicable, a contact lens fitting process for a patient, to provide the patient with a signed copy of the patient's contact lens prescription, unless that prescription meets specified standards. In this regard, existing law grants a prescriber professional discretion regarding the release of the contact lens prescription for patients who wear certain types of contact lenses.
This bill would delete the above-described exception to the requirement to provide a patient with a signed copy of the patient's contact lens prescription. The bill would require a prescriber to abide by specified federal regulations pertaining to contact lens prescriptions and eye examinations.
(8) 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.

Statutes affected:
SB 776: 3046.1 BPC, 3151 BPC
02/21/25 - Introduced: 3046.1 BPC, 3151 BPC
04/24/25 - Amended Senate: 2541.2 BPC, 2541.2 BPC, 2552 BPC, 2552 BPC, 2553.5 BPC, 2553.5 BPC, 2558.1 BPC, 2558.1 BPC, 2559.1 BPC, 2559.1 BPC, 2560 BPC, 2560 BPC, 2564.5 BPC, 2564.5 BPC, 2564.6 BPC, 2564.6 BPC, 2564.71 BPC, 2564.71 BPC, 3003 BPC, 3003 BPC, 3010.5 BPC, 3010.5 BPC, 3014.6 BPC, 3014.6 BPC, 3046 BPC, 3046 BPC, 3046.1 BPC, 3057 BPC, 3057 BPC, 3145 BPC, 3145 BPC, 3151 BPC
05/01/25 - Amended Senate: 2541.2 BPC, 2552 BPC, 2553.5 BPC, 2558.1 BPC, 2559.1 BPC, 2560 BPC, 2564.5 BPC, 2564.6 BPC, 2564.71 BPC, 3003 BPC, 3010.5 BPC, 3014.6 BPC, 3046 BPC, 3046.1 BPC, 3057 BPC, 3070.2 BPC, 3070.2 BPC, 3145 BPC, 3151 BPC