1-1     By:  Nixon                                            S.B. No. 1400
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Health Services;
 1-4     May 13, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 13, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1400                   By:  Nixon
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the regulation of the practice of optometry.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 3.02, Texas Optometry Act
1-13     (Article 4552-3.02, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
1-14     read as follows:
1-15           (a)  The applicant shall make application, furnishing to the
1-16     executive director, on forms to be furnished by the board,
1-17     satisfactory sworn evidence that the applicant has attained the age
1-18     of majority, is of good moral character, and has a preliminary
1-19     education equivalent to permit the applicant to matriculate in The
1-20     University of Texas, and that the applicant has attended and
1-21     graduated from a reputable college of optometry which meets with
1-22     the requirements of the board, and such other information as the
1-23     board may deem necessary for the enforcement of this Act.  An
1-24     applicant may take the examination without having graduated if:
1-25                 (1)  the dean of a college of optometry that meets the
1-26     requirements of the board notifies the board in writing that the
1-27     applicant is enrolled in good standing in the college and is in the
1-28     final semester before graduation; and
1-29                 (2)  the applicant meets the other requirements of this
1-30     subsection.
1-31           SECTION 2.  Article 3, Texas Optometry Act (Article 4552-3.01
1-32     et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding
1-33     Section 3.085 to read as follows:
1-34           Sec. 3.085.  LICENSE WITHOUT EXAMINATION.  The board may
1-35     issue a license to practice therapeutic optometry without requiring
1-36     the applicant to pass all or part of the examination required by
1-37     Section 3.01 of this Act if:
1-38                 (1)  the applicant is licensed in good standing as a
1-39     therapeutic optometrist in another state, the District of Columbia,
1-40     or a territory of the United States;
1-41                 (2)  the applicant has passed an examination that is
1-42     substantially equivalent to the examination required by Section
1-43     3.01 of this Act;
1-44                 (3)  during at least five of the seven years preceding
1-45     the application date, the applicant has been:
1-46                       (A)  actively engaged in the practice of
1-47     therapeutic optometry; or
1-48                       (B)  engaged in full-time teaching at an
1-49     accredited college of optometry or medicine;
1-50                 (4)  there are no pending disciplinary actions against
1-51     the applicant in the state, district, or territory in which the
1-52     applicant is licensed; and
1-53                 (5)  the applicant's license has never been suspended
1-54     or revoked.
1-55           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-56           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-57     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-58     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-59     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-60     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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