Committee reviews continuing-education rule that keeps retired volunteer optometrists at full renewal standard

The Practice and Education Committee of the California State Board of Optometry discussed whether optometrists holding a retired volunteer designation should be required to meet the same continuing-education (CE) hours as active licensees.

The committee opened the item after Executive Officer Pruden summarized the statutory basis for the designation and the board's current CE requirements. "Because the law requires it," Pruden said, explaining why retired volunteer licensees are subject to the same renewal hours as fully licensed optometrists.

The matter matters to the small subset of licensees who keep a retired volunteer designation but continue to provide unpaid care at health fairs and similar events. Pruden told the committee that of about "approximately 7,800 licensed optometrists in the state of California, we have a retired volunteer designated population of 32," and walked members through the statutory pathways to acquire the designation and the limits on its use.

Pruden described the statutory pathways and conditions: holders may practice full scope optometry but only if services are voluntary, unpaid and provided at health fairs, vision screenings, or public-service eye programs. The staff summary cited Business and Professions Code section 3151.1 and outlined multiple pathways to the retired volunteer status, including timelines tied to retired or expired licenses and, in some cases, additional CE or exam requirements (50 hours of CE or passage of the CLRE and NDO part 3 for longer lapsed licenses).

Committee members raised practical and policy concerns. One member noted that retired volunteers may sometimes be the only optometrist at a community screening and said up-to-date knowledge matters at those events; staff emphasized that CE requirements exist in part to keep practitioners current. The committee also discussed whether a nonstatutory workaround existed, for example asking whether a licensee could "downgrade" a certification to reduce CE hours; Pruden answered, "There is no ability in the law to downgrade your certification," and explained that certification downgrades are not provided under current law.

Members discussed tradeoffs: lowering CE hours could reduce the burden on a small number of mostly retired clinicians but might create a two-tier renewal standard that could raise questions if a patient were harmed. Pruden advised caution and noted that any two-tier change could prompt legislative or policy scrutiny.

The committee did not propose any immediate regulatory changes. Instead staff were asked to gather comparative information and return with more detail. Committee members asked staff to contact the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry (ARBO) to learn how other states treat CE for retired volunteer–designated optometrists and to place the item on a future Practice and Education Committee or full-board agenda for follow-up.

The committee did not take formal action on the item during the meeting and no regulatory change was adopted; members agreed to continue the discussion after staff research.