Committee reopens and passes optometry scope bill after narrow 6–5 vote

The Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services committee voted 6–5 to pass the majority report on LD 1803, a divided bill that would expand the statutory scope of optometry while carving out ophthalmic surgeries and requiring board rulemaking and credentialing.

Colleen, a committee staff member who presented the amendment package, said the majority amendment is a “strike and replace” that (1) adds a definition for the practice of optometry, (2) lists services and procedures optometrists would be permitted to perform, (3) enumerates excluded ophthalmic surgical procedures, (4) requires the board to adopt credentialing standards and rules, (5) requires malpractice insurance as set by the board, and (6) extends contact-lens prescription recordkeeping from five to ten years with a duty for non‑optometrist dispensers to forward prescription details to the patient’s optometrist.

The minority amendment, by contrast, pares back the list of permitted procedures and limits any surgical authority to two narrowly described procedures in paragraph L, subject to the board’s adoption of major substantive rules before those procedures may be performed. The minority package also proposes a two‑stage task force and reporting schedule: an initial study and report back to the HCIFS committee next February and authority for the committee to file legislation in subsequent sessions based on the task force’s recommendations.

Representative Bob Foley asked to reopen the committee’s earlier vote so he could offer additional changes after participating remotely. Foley moved to reconsider and Representative Mary Grace Chimino seconded. After reopening, Foley successfully moved to adopt the majority portion of the report as amended; Representative Olsen seconded the motion. On the roll call the committee recorded six affirmative votes and five negatives, allowing the majority report to pass as amended.

Members debated several technical and policy points before the vote. Minority supporters cautioned that the bill’s reach into procedures might be broader than intended and noted a suggested insertion (proposed by eye physicians) clarifying that surgery includes procedures using photosensitizing chemicals — language that, staff said, had been proposed for clarity but was not necessarily agreed to across the committee. The minority amendment would also designate all rules related to scope of practice and credentialing as major substantive rules; the majority version distinguishes initial scope/credentialing rules as major substantive and other rules as routine technical.

The bill also adds an advisory-opinion authority for the Board of Optometry, tightens recordkeeping for contact-lens prescriptions, and places a board-determined malpractice-insurance requirement on licenses. Under the majority amendment, many statutory changes would take effect Jan. 1, 2028; the study provision in part B would begin 90 days after enactment, if enacted.

The committee reopened the work session on LD 1803 to accommodate the reconsideration and to allow additional amendment work. Committee staff said members will continue refining language and rulemaking expectations before the bill advances further in the legislative process.

Next steps: the committee passed the majority report as amended and will carry the revised language and any follow-up instructions forward for rulemaking and possible further committee action.