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Senate amends optometry licensing bill to limit new narcotics prescribing authority
Summary
Senate Bill 48, amending the Optometry Licensing Act, initially proposed authorization for schedule III drugs but the body adopted an agreed amendment restricting such prescriptions to a 72-hour supply with no refills and clarified charitable-care liability protections; the amended bill passed.
Senate Bill 48, sponsored by Senator Mansell, proposed multiple amendments to the Optometry Licensing Act, including clarifying liability protections for optometrists providing emergency charitable care and refining the distinction between contact-lens resellers and providers.
The major floor controversy concerned granting optometrists authority to prescribe schedule III medications. Senator Montgomery offered an agreed amendment that removed open schedule-III authority and instead reinstated language limiting antibiotics and added a 72-hour limitation with no refills for certain pain medications. Senator Montgomery described the amendment as friendly and agreed by ophthalmology and optometry stakeholders.
Supporters said the 72-hour, no-refill limitation would allow optometrists to provide short-term pain relief where appropriate while limiting risks of longer-term access to more-addictive medications. Senator Allen, who said he holds a narcotics license, said he intended to support the measure but urged careful monitoring and review if the change is enacted. "We put in the 72-hour limitation and also no refills," a sponsor noted on the floor.
The amended bill passed on a roll call announced by the clerk (announced 26 aye, 2 nay, 1 absent). Sponsors and several senators asked that the change be monitored in the coming months to ensure it remains a clinical benefit without unintended consequences.
