1-1     By:  Maxey (Senate Sponsor - Nixon)                   H.B. No. 2394
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999;
 1-3     May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
 1-4     Services; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the regulation of the practice of optometry.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 3.02(a), Texas Optometry Act (Article
1-11     4552-3.02, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
1-12     follows:
1-13           (a)  The applicant shall make application, furnishing to the
1-14     executive director, on forms to be furnished by the board,
1-15     satisfactory sworn evidence that the applicant has attained the age
1-16     of majority, is of good moral character, and has a preliminary
1-17     education equivalent to permit the applicant to matriculate in The
1-18     University of Texas, and that the applicant has attended and
1-19     graduated from a reputable college of optometry which meets with
1-20     the requirements of the board, and such other information as the
1-21     board may deem necessary for the enforcement of this Act.  An
1-22     applicant may take the examination without having graduated if:
1-23                 (1)  the dean of a college of optometry that meets the
1-24     requirements of the board notifies the board in writing that the
1-25     applicant is enrolled in good standing in the college and is in the
1-26     final semester before graduation; and
1-27                 (2)  the applicant meets the other requirements of this
1-28     subsection.
1-29           SECTION 2.  Article 3, Texas Optometry Act (Article 4552-3.01
1-30     et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding
1-31     Section 3.085 to read as follows:
1-32           Sec. 3.085.  LICENSE WITHOUT EXAMINATION.  The board may
1-33     issue a license to practice therapeutic optometry without requiring
1-34     the applicant to pass all or part of the examination required by
1-35     Section 3.01 of this Act if:
1-36                 (1)  the applicant is licensed in good standing as a
1-37     therapeutic optometrist in another state, the District of Columbia,
1-38     or a territory of the United States;
1-39                 (2)  the applicant has passed an examination that is
1-40     substantially equivalent to the examination required by Section
1-41     3.01 of this Act;
1-42                 (3)  during at least five of the seven years preceding
1-43     the application date, the applicant has been:
1-44                       (A)  actively engaged in the practice of
1-45     therapeutic optometry; or
1-46                       (B)  engaged in full-time teaching at an
1-47     accredited college of optometry or medicine;
1-48                 (4)  there are no pending disciplinary actions against
1-49     the applicant in the state, district, or territory in which the
1-50     applicant is licensed; and
1-51                 (5)  the applicant's license has never been suspended
1-52     or revoked.
1-53           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-54           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-55     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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