Sec. 20-138a. Construction of chapter. Penalty for practice without a license.
Sec. 20-138a. Construction of chapter. Penalty for practice without a license.
(a) No person shall engage in the practice of optometry in this state unless such person
has first obtained a license from the Department of Public Health, but the provisions of
this chapter shall not prevent a licensed optometrist from delegating optometric services
to either a trained optometric assistant or to an optometric technician. Such delegated
services shall be performed only under the supervision, control, and responsibility of
the licensed optometrist, except that optometric assistants or optometric technicians
shall not be authorized to refract eyes, detect eye health or prescribe spectacles, eyeglasses or contact lenses. A licensed optometrist may delegate to an optometric assistant,
optometric technician or appropriately trained person the use and application of any
ocular agent, provided such delegated service is performed only under the supervision,
control and responsibility of the licensed optometrist. Optometric services that may be
delegated to an optometric assistant or to an optometric technician may be delegated to
an optometric assistant trainee, provided such services are performed only under the
direct supervision, control and responsibility of the employing licensed optometrist.
(b) Any person in violation of this section shall be fined not more than five hundred
dollars or imprisoned not more than five years or both, for each offense. For purposes
of this section each instance of patient contact or consultation which is in violation of
any provision of this section shall constitute a separate offense. Failure to renew a license
in a timely manner shall not constitute a violation for the purposes of this section.
(c) For the purposes of this section: (1) "Optometric assistant" means a person who
has either completed two hundred hours of on-the-job training, an affidavit in support
of which shall be kept by the employing optometrist on the premises, or graduated
from a vocational program in optometric technicianry; (2) "optometric assistant trainee"
means a person who has completed less than two hundred hours of on-the-job training
and who is under the direct supervision, control and responsibility of an employing,
licensed optometrist when performing optometric services which may be delegated to
optometric assistants and to optometric technicians; (3) "optometric technician" means
a person who has either completed a two-year college program in optometric technicianry, or passed the national optometric technician registration examination given by
The American Optometric Association; and (4) "appropriately trained person" means
a person who has completed on-the-job training in the use and application of ocular
agents under the supervision, control and responsibility of an employing, licensed optometrist, an affidavit in support of which shall be kept by the employing optometrist
on the premises.
(1959, P.A. 616, S. 48; P.A. 77-614, S. 323, 610; P.A. 80-484, S. 153, 176; P.A. 84-526, S. 10; P.A. 88-362, S. 11; 88-364, S. 92, 123; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 05-36, S. 2; P.A. 06-196, S. 249.)
History: P.A. 77-614 replaced department of health with department of health services, effective January 1, 1979; P.A.
80-484 transferred licensing power to department from board of examiners, deleting obsolete reference to registration with
department as provided in Sec. 19-45; P.A. 84-526 amended section by changing penalty for violation of any provision
of section to a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment of not more than five years, and added provisions that each
instance of patient contact or consultation shall constitute a separate offense and failure to renew license in timely manner
is not a violation for purposes of section; P.A. 88-362 authorized licensed optometrists to delegate optometric services to
trained assistants and technicians and added Subsec. (b) defining "optometric assistant", "optometric assistant trainee",
and "optometric technician"; P.A. 88-364 made technical changes in Subsec. (b); P.A. 93-381 replaced department of
health services with department of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced
Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public
Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 05-36 amended Subsec. (a) by authorizing optometrists to delegate certain duties re
ocular agents, designating existing language re penalties as new Subsec. (b) and making technical changes, redesignated
existing Subsec. (b) as Subsec. (c) and amended same by adding Subdiv. (4) defining "appropriately trained person"; P.A.
06-196 made a technical change in Subsec. (a), effective June 7, 2006.