Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Executive Officer Report topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board staff outline strategic‑plan timeline, new contact form and fingerprint portal
Summary
The board’s executive officer briefed members on the upcoming strategic‑planning process, a department‑wide contact form to reduce phishing, and a fingerprint request portal to streamline license processing and reduce mailing of physical hard cards.
The California State Board of Optometry received an update on its current and future strategic plan and on two information‑technology changes that staff say will improve security and customer service: a centralized contact form and a fingerprint request portal.
Executive Officer Gregory Pruden told the board the current strategic plan — developed in 2020–21 and amended about a year ago — includes six goal areas, 30 objectives and 109 tasks; the board’s attached tracker indicates approximately 72% of those tasks have been completed. Pruden said the board will conduct a strategic‑planning session at the October meeting, led by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) SOLID unit, and that members should expect outreach for interviews and a stakeholder survey to inform the next four‑year plan.
On IT changes, Pruden said the board replaced many published email addresses on its website with a dropdown contact form modeled on the Board of Registered Nursing’s form. "This contact form has been modeled after what exists, for the board [of] registered nursing, and it's been deployed and is live now on our website," he said, explaining the form routes inquiries by topic to the appropriate staff mailbox to reduce phishing and improve routing.
Pruden also described a fingerprint request portal, modeled on a system used by the Board of Registered Nursing, to streamline live scan and hard‑card fingerprint requests. The portal will let applicants specify whether they need a live scan form or a physical hard card, provide a delivery address and reduce manual mail steps. Pruden said the board mailed 55 hard cards in calendar year 2024 and has mailed fewer than half that number so far this year; posting printable hard‑card instructions could eliminate one mailing step and reduce staff manual tracking.
Why it matters: The changes are intended to reduce phishing/spam problems, improve response times to applicants and licensees, and reduce manual errors in tracking fingerprint requests. The strategic‑planning work will set objectives and tasks for the next four years.
Board discussion and follow up: Members asked about whether the contact form provides an automatic acknowledgment to senders; Pruden said he will follow up. Members also asked whether hard‑card submissions include a law‑enforcement certification or signature; staff confirmed law‑enforcement agencies sign the hard cards. Pruden said the portal and related application changes will take a few months to implement and that staff will return with updates.
The board heard no public comment on these items at the meeting. Staff said the board will receive more information about the interview agenda and timing for board member interviews from the DCA SOLID team before the October planning session.
The board moved on to later agenda items and scheduled further discussion as work progresses.
