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. 1-59 * * * * *