Certification and Registration Requirement; Comity; Qualifications Examination

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Professions and Businesses
  4. Optometrists
  5. Certification and Registration Requirement; Comity; Qualifications Examination

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  1. All persons engaged in the practice of optometry or who wish to begin the practice of optometry shall apply through the division director to the board for a certificate of registration. Such certificate of registration shall be granted to such applicants upon compliance with the conditions contained in subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this Code section.
  2. The applicant shall be registered and given a certificate of registration if he or she holds a valid license from such other state boards of optometry as may be, under the rules of comity, recognized by the board. The fee for registering such applicant shall be in an amount determined by the board. A person practicing optometry who has been registered and given a certificate of registration under the rules of comity and who fails to pay the biennial registration fee, as established by the board, on or before the renewal date established by the division director shall forfeit his or her certificate of registration. Such person may be reinstated by paying all past due registration fees and an additional fee in an amount established by the board.
  3. Any other applicant for registration under this chapter shall be required to pass an examination approved by the board. In addition, each such applicant shall:
    1. Be 21 years of age and of good moral character;
    2. Possess a high school education of not less than 16 Carnegie units or the equivalent thereof to be determined by the board;
    3. Have completed not less than two years of preoptometry college work in a college of arts and sciences approved by the board or the equivalent thereof to be determined by the board; and
    4. Hold a certificate of graduation from an accredited college or university teaching optometry, acceptable to the board, requiring a course of study therein of at least four school years.
  4. Any applicant seeking a certificate of registration after July 1, 1994, must be qualified to use pharmaceutical agents for diagnostic and treatment purposes in accordance with subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of Code Section 43-30-1. Qualification to use pharmaceutical agents for diagnostic and treatment purposes shall be met by evidence of:
    1. Successful completion of pharmacological training and certification from a properly accredited institution of higher learning, or the equivalent thereof to be determined by the board; and
    2. Successful passage of an examination approved by the board which tests knowledge of pharmacology for treatment and management of ocular diseases.

(Ga. L. 1916, p. 83, § 6; Code 1933, § 84-1105; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 114, § 1; Ga. L. 1960, p. 961, § 1; Ga. L. 1971, p. 425, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 185, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 853, § 3; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1706, § 19; Ga. L. 2010, p. 266, § 35/SB 195.)

Cross references.

- Cooperation between Georgia and other states, T. 28, C. 6.

Administrative Rules and Regulations.

- Examination requirements, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia State Board of Examiners in Optometry, Chapter 430-11.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Unlicensed corporation or individual cannot practice through licensed employee.

- Absent express statutory authority, a corporation or individual not licensed to practice optometry cannot practice optometry through a licensed employee. Lee Optical of Ga., Inc. v. Georgia State Bd. of Exmrs. in Optometry, 220 Ga. 204, 138 S.E.2d 165 (1964).

Cited in Georgia State Bd. of Exmrs. in Optometry v. Friedmans' Jewelers, Inc., 183 Ga. 669, 189 S.E. 238 (1936); Kahn v. Shaw, 65 Ga. App. 563, 16 S.E.2d 99 (1941); Pearle Optical of Monroeville, Inc. v. Georgia State Bd. of Exmrs. in Optometry, 219 Ga. 364, 133 S.E.2d 374 (1963); Wall v. American Optometric Ass'n, 379 F. Supp. 175 (N.D. Ga. 1974).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Former Code 1933, §§ 84-1105 and 84-1110 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 43-30-7 and43-30-9) clearly place discretionary authority in board. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 496.

Board has no authority to prescribe any period of residence as prerequisite to consideration of application to practice optometry in Georgia. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 500.

Board may require examinations for optometrists from states with residency requirements.

- Board is not required, under rules of comity, to issue licenses upon applications presented by persons licensed to practice in other states when such residence periods are required, when recognition of Georgia licenses are held subject to that condition, but the board has right to require such persons to undergo examination as is set forth in the statute. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 500.

Regularly licensed optometrist may practice in any county in which that optometrist registers with the clerk of superior court. 1945-57 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 507.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Judicial review of decision upon application for license to practice within state by physician or surgeon from another state or country, 136 A.L.R. 742.


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