81R10082 BEF-F
By: Thompson H.B. No. 3981
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the composition of the Texas Optometry Board.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 351.051(a), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The Texas Optometry Board consists of 13 [nine] members
appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate
as follows:
(1) seven [six] optometrists or therapeutic
optometrists; [and]
(2) three learned and eminent physicians who
specialize in ophthalmology and who have been licensed under
Subtitle B for at least three years before the date of appointment;
and
(3) three members who represent the public.
SECTION 2. Section 351.054(a), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Members of the board serve staggered six-year terms.
The terms of two or three optometrist or therapeutic optometrist
members, as applicable, one physician member, and one public member
expire on January 31 of each odd-numbered year.
SECTION 3. Section 351.058(b), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The board shall hold special meetings on the request of
seven [five] members of the board or on the call of the presiding
officer.
SECTION 4. Section 351.501(a), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) On the vote of seven [five] or more members, the board
may refuse to issue a license to an applicant, revoke or suspend a
license, place on probation a person whose license has been
suspended, impose a fine, impose a stipulation, limitation, or
condition relating to continued practice, including conditioning
continued practice on counseling or additional education, or
reprimand a license holder if the board determines that:
(1) the applicant or license holder is guilty of
fraud, deceit, dishonesty, or misrepresentation in the practice of
optometry or therapeutic optometry or in seeking admission to that
practice;
(2) the applicant or license holder is unfit or
incompetent by reason of negligence;
(3) the applicant or license holder has been convicted
of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or a felony;
(4) the applicant or license holder:
(A) is a habitual drunkard;
(B) is addicted to the use of morphine, cocaine,
or other drugs having similar effect;
(C) has become insane; or
(D) has been found by a court to be of unsound
mind;
(5) the license holder has directly or indirectly
employed, hired, procured, or induced a person to practice
optometry or therapeutic optometry in this state without a license;
(6) the license holder has directly or indirectly
aided or abetted an unlicensed person in the practice of optometry
or therapeutic optometry;
(7) the license holder has placed the holder's license
at the disposal or service of, including lending, leasing, or
renting to, a person not licensed to practice optometry or
therapeutic optometry in this state;
(8) the applicant or license holder has wilfully or
repeatedly violated this chapter or a board rule adopted under this
chapter;
(9) the license holder has wilfully or repeatedly
represented to a member of the public that the license holder is
authorized or competent to cure or treat an eye disease beyond the
authorization granted by this chapter;
(10) the license holder has had the right to practice
optometry or therapeutic optometry suspended or revoked by a
federal agency for a cause that the board believes warrants that
action;
(11) the applicant or license holder has acted to
deceive, defraud, or harm the public;
(12) the applicant or license holder is guilty of
gross incompetence in the practice of optometry or therapeutic
optometry;
(13) the applicant or license holder has engaged in a
pattern of practice or other behavior demonstrating a wilful
provision of substandard care;
(14) the applicant or license holder has committed an
act of sexual abuse, misconduct, or exploitation with a patient or
has otherwise unethically or immorally abused the doctor-patient
relationship;
(15) the applicant or license holder has prescribed,
sold, administered, distributed, or given a drug legally classified
as a controlled substance or as an addictive or dangerous drug for
other than an accepted diagnostic or therapeutic purpose;
(16) the applicant or license holder has failed to
report to the board the relocation of the applicant's or license
holder's office not later than the 30th day after the date of
relocation, whether in or out of this state; or
(17) the license holder has practiced or attempted to
practice optometry while the license holder's license was
suspended.
SECTION 5. As soon as practicable on or after the effective
date of this Act, the governor shall appoint four additional
members to the Texas Optometry Board. In appointing those members,
the governor shall appoint one physician member to a term expiring
January 31, 2011, one physician member to a term expiring January
31, 2013, and one physician member and one optometrist or
therapeutic optometrist member to terms expiring January 31, 2015.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.