Section 34-22-42

Powers and duties generally.

The board shall exercise and perform, subject to this chapter, each of the following powers and duties:

(1) Conduct examinations at least once each year to ascertain the qualifications and fitness of applicants for licenses to practice optometry.

(2) Prescribe rules and regulations for conducting and administering an examination of applicants for licensing as optometrists and to effectuate this chapter.

(3) Institute, upon a complaint or petition, hearings of charges against licensed optometrists or other persons as provided in this chapter.

(4) Institute legal proceedings for violations of this chapter.

(5) Grant and deny licenses in conformity with this chapter, including applications for approval to use pharmaceutical agents.

(6) Formulate rules and regulations by which the board shall determine which optometry schools and colleges in or out of the State of Alabama have been duly accredited by a recognized and properly authorized accrediting agency and which accredited schools or colleges shall be approved by the board.

(7) Establish standards of continuing education which shall be deemed a requisite to the renewal of licenses of applicants who are otherwise qualified to practice optometry in the State of Alabama.

(8) Keep a register of optometrists containing the names and addresses of all persons to whom license certificates, temporary licenses, approvals for use of pharmaceutical agents, and limited licenses have been issued in the State of Alabama, the date of the issuance, the place or places of business in which each optometrist is engaged, and all renewals, revocations, and suspensions of licenses and certification.

(9) Administer oaths and affirmations of witnesses, issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of all necessary papers, books, records, documentary evidence, and materials in any hearing, investigation, or other proceeding before the board.

(10) Employ or appoint an executive director, clerical personnel, and legal advisors or counsel to assist in implementing this chapter when there is a need for those services and when funds are available for those purposes. The executive director may be a licensed optometrist in this state, but may not, while serving as the executive director, also serve as a member of the Board of Optometry. The executive director shall not be subject to the state Merit System.

(11) Prescribe rules and regulations establishing a program of internship as a requisite to application for license, if the board deems such a program advisable.

(12) Prescribe rules and regulations establishing circumstances and conditions upon which temporary licenses may be issued by the board and the terms and conditions of the temporary licenses.

(13) Prescribe rules and regulations subject to the limitations of this chapter for the utilization of methods or means of treatment recognized as being within the scope of the practice of optometry.

(14) Prescribe rules and regulations subject to the limitations of this chapter necessary for the performance of eye care procedures reasonably necessary to the treatment of conditions or diseases of the human eye and its adjacent structures.

(Acts 1975, No. 1148, p. 2257, §5; Acts 1993, No. 93-153, p. 222, §3; Acts 1995, No. 95-218, p. 370, §1.)