All Roll Calls
Yes: 63 • No: 0
NevadaAB18383rd Regular Session (2025)House
AN ACT relating to optometry; providing that a license to practice optometry issued by the Nevada State Board of Optometry is a revocable privilege; establishing procedures by which the Board may summarily suspend a license to practice optometry; specifying the substances which may be prescribed by an optometrist who holds a certificate to administer and prescribe pharmaceutical agents; increasing the number of members which constitute the Board; revising the requirements for the issuance of a license by endorsement; revising provisions governing the issuance of certain certificates by the Board; revising the circumstances under which certain optometrists are authorized to prescribe controlled substances; revising provisions relating to investigations conducted by the Board; clarifying that the practice of optometry includes optometric telemedicine; establishing certain circumstances under which a licensee is not required to report certain events to the Board; establishing certain provisions governing the temporary ownership of an optometry practice of a licensee who is permanently incapacitated; revising provisions governing the issuance of citations; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Sponsored By: Gregory S. Koenig (Republican)
Signed by Governor
BDR 54-151
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 2 costs, 2 mixed.
Higher fines and fast suspensions for optometrists
The Nevada Board of Optometry can fine you up to $5,000 per violation after a hearing. It can also issue citations with fines up to $1,000 per violation, or up to $5,000 for certain violations. The Board may order you to appear in an investigation when a complaint is not frivolous, and it keeps such complaints for at least 10 years. It can summarily suspend your license if your practice risks harm, with a hearing within 60 days and reinstatement if no formal complaint is pending. All optometry licenses are a revocable privilege.
Guardian can run practice for one year
If a sole‑owner optometrist is permanently incapacitated and a guardian is appointed, the guardian may own the practice for up to one year without a license. The guardian must get a written opinion from a board‑certified physician (neurology, neurological surgery, critical care, or intensive care) confirming permanent incapacity. The guardian must transfer the practice to a licensee or close it within one year.
Citation limits and no NPDB reporting
The Board may issue citations only for issues that do not involve patient care or unethical conduct. These citations and fines are not formal discipline and are not reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank. You have 30 days from the citation date to request a hearing in writing. You also do not have to report some out‑of‑state administrative fines to Nevada if the Data Bank has no report and no formal discipline was issued.
Telemedicine and assistant duties expanded in eye care
Optometric telemedicine counts as practicing optometry in Nevada. Under direct supervision, assistants may do prep work, collect patient history and data, perform simple noninvasive tests, use ophthalmic devices, and give certain noncontrolled eye drops. The licensed optometrist must perform the final eye exam.
Stricter proof for out-of-state licenses
If you apply for a Nevada license by endorsement, you must show proof you passed each part of the national optometry exam used for your other license. You still need an active, unrestricted license elsewhere, five years of continuous practice, no recent Data Bank reports, and no discipline or investigations.
Optometrist drug changes and opioid caps
Pharmaceutical agents now include topical or oral drugs in schedules III, IV, and V for eye care. The law removes the old 40‑hour ophthalmologist‑supervised training for the certificate to prescribe; you still must be licensed and pass the ocular disease exam. For the glaucoma certificate, you may count 15 patients diagnosed by ophthalmologists licensed anywhere in the U.S., treated in consultation for at least 12 months. Narcotic opioid prescriptions are capped at 90 MME per day and 72 hours, and you must examine the patient and state no refills without another exam.
Optometry Board grows to five members
The State Board of Optometry now has five members: four licensed, active optometrists and one public member not related to a licensee. Members cannot own an optometry school, have financial ties to optical suppliers, or have certain convictions.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Gregory S. Koenig
Republican • House
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 5/23/2025
Final Passage - Senate (1st Reprint)
Yes: 21 • No: 0
House vote • 4/22/2025
Final Passage - Assembly (1st Reprint)
Yes: 42 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Chapter 111.
5/29/2025legislatureApproved by the Governor.
5/29/2025legislatureEnrolled and delivered to Governor.
5/27/2025legislatureIn Assembly. To enrollment.
5/26/2025HouseRead third time. Passed. Title approved. (Yeas: 21, Nays: None.) To Assembly.
5/23/2025SenateTaken from General File. Placed on General File for next legislative day.
5/22/2025SenateTaken from General File. Placed on General File for next legislative day.
5/21/2025SenateTaken from General File. Placed on General File for next legislative day.
5/20/2025SenateRead second time.
5/19/2025SenateFrom committee: Do pass.
5/16/2025SenateRead first time. Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor. To committee.
4/28/2025SenateIn Senate.
4/28/2025SenateTo Senate.
4/25/2025HouseFrom printer. To engrossment. Engrossed. First reprint.
4/25/2025HouseTo printer.
4/22/2025HouseRead third time. Passed, as amended. Title approved, as amended. (Yeas: 42, Nays: None.)
4/22/2025HouseDispensed with reprinting.
4/21/2025HouseRead second time. Amended. (Amend. No. 67.)
4/21/2025HousePlaced on Second Reading File.
4/21/2025HouseFrom committee: Amend, and do pass as amended.
4/21/2025HouseFrom printer. To committee.
2/5/2025HouseTo printer.
2/4/2025HouseRead first time.
2/4/2025HouseReferred to Committee on Commerce and Labor.
2/3/2025HousePrefiled.
2/3/2025House
Bill Text
As Enrolled
As Introduced
Reprint 1
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