California Board of Optometry approves responses to legislative sunset review, requests higher fee ceiling and further review of UC allocation

The California State Board of Optometry on April 11 approved a package of responses to a legislative sunset-review background paper and voted on several related requests to the Legislature, including asking lawmakers to increase statutory fee ceilings and to review the board's recurring $16-per-renewal remittance to the University of California.

The board voted to approve the draft responses prepared by staff and to send them to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee and the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee. As part of its action, the board agreed to ask the Legislature to raise the statutory ceiling on fees so the board could implement future regulatory fee increases if needed; to request legislative review of the UC remittance with the possibility of reducing the outflow; and to ask the Legislature for additional enforcement tools and resources to address unlicensed activity and online optical entities.

Why it matters: The sunset review is a formal legislative check on the board's structure and practices. The board's decision to seek a higher fee ceiling is intended as a precautionary measure that would allow the board to raise fees later by regulation if the fund condition requires it. The board also flagged the $16 UC remittance as a multi-year outflow totaling nearly $300,000 over recent fiscal years and requested clearer reporting so the Legislature can determine whether the allocation should continue.

During discussion, staff presented the board's fund condition and a "mock" fund statement showing scenarios that underlie the board's conclusion that an immediate fee increase is not required, but that raising the statutory ceiling would provide flexibility in the future. Board members debated whether the request should be framed more strongly; the board approved language asking the Legislature to "enact a higher fee ceiling such that a future fee increase, if needed, would be available to the board." The board also voted to ask legislative committees to examine whether the UC remittance should be reduced or otherwise adjusted after further conversations with UC leadership.

The board separately approved a motion directing staff to amend its response to the legislature to request "additional enforcement tools and resources," and to reference other resource requests the board has made. Members cited concerns about unregistered optical retail entities and online businesses that may circumvent state registration and licensure rules. To address citation-level enforcement limits, members also voted to ask the Legislature to consider increasing statutory caps on citation fines, which have not been updated in decades.

Votes and formal actions recorded at the meeting include: approval of the draft sunset responses (roll call recorded as unanimous), a motion to request the fee-ceiling change (motion passed), a motion to request legislative review of the UC remittance (motion passed), a motion to request additional enforcement tools (motion passed), and a motion asking the Legislature to consider increasing citation caps (motion passed). The board instructed staff to finalize language and submit the documents to legislative staff on the standard timeline for sunset responses.

Context and next steps: Staff will incorporate the board's amendments and submit the final responses to the committees. The board also asked staff to continue stakeholder outreach, including additional conversations with UC representatives, and to work with legislative staff if the committees are interested in drafting statutory changes. The board's sunset bill (SB 776) is also moving through the Legislature and may be amended based on these exchanges.

The board will revisit any legislative language and the final rulemaking packages at future public meetings as bills and committee work progress.