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. 1-61 * * * * *