SECTIONS 2550-2559 - California Statutes

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE

SECTION 2550-2559

2550. Individuals, corporations, and firms engaged in the business
of filling prescriptions of physicians and surgeons licensed by the
Division of Licensing of the Medical Board of California or
optometrists licensed by the State Board of Optometry for
prescription lenses and kindred products, and, as incidental to the
filling of those prescriptions, doing any or all of the following
acts, either singly or in combination with others, taking facial
measurements, fitting and adjusting those lenses and fitting and
adjusting spectacle frames, shall be known as dispensing opticians
and shall not engage in that business unless registered with the
Division of Licensing of the Medical Board of California.

2550.1. All references in this chapter to the board or the Board of
Medical Examiners or division shall mean the Medical Board of
California.

2551. Individuals, corporations, and firms shall make application
for registration and shall not engage in that business prior to being
issued a certificate of registration. Application for that
registration shall be on forms prescribed by the board, shall bear
the signature of the individual, or general partners if a
partnership, or the president or secretary if a corporation, and
shall contain the name under which he or she, they or it proposes to
do business and the business address. Separate applications shall be
made for each place of business and each application must be
accompanied by the application fee prescribed by Section 2565.

2552. Each application shall be verified under oath by the person
required to sign the application and shall designate the name,
address, and business telephone number of the applicant's employee
who will be responsible for handling customer inquiries and
complaints with respect to the business address for which
registration is applied.
The applicant shall furnish such additional information or proof,
oral or written, which the division may request, including
information and proof relating to the provisions of Division 1.5
(commencing with Section 475).
The division shall promptly notify any applicant if, as of the
30th day following the submission of an application under this
chapter, the application and supporting documentation are not
substantially complete and in proper form. The notification shall be
in writing, shall state specifically what documents or other
information are to be supplied by the applicant to the board, and
shall be sent to the applicant by certified or registered mail.
Within 30 days of the applicant's submission of the requested
documents or information to the board, the board shall notify the
applicant by certified or registered mail if the board requires
additional documents or information.
This section shall become operative on January 1, 1988.

2553. If the board, after investigation, approves the application,
it shall register the applicant and issue to the applicant a
certificate of dispensing optician. A separate certificate of
registration shall be required for each address where the business is
to be conducted.
A certificate authorizes the applicant, its agents and employees
acting therefor to engage in the business defined in Section 2550
provided that the fitting and adjusting of spectacle lenses is
performed in compliance with Article 1.5 (commencing with Section
2559.1) and the fitting and adjusting of contact lenses is performed
in compliance with Article 2 (commencing with Section 2560).
Each certificate shall be at all times displayed in a conspicuous
place at the certified place of business. The certificate shall not
be transferable, but on application to the division there may be
registered a change of address of the certificate.
This section shall become operative on January 1, 1988.

2553.5. (a) A registered dispensing optician may fit and adjust
spectacle lenses and frames or take facial measurements in any of the
following locations:
(1) A health facility as defined in Section 1250 of the Health and
Safety Code for a person admitted to that facility or an employee of
that facility.
(2) A business location as defined in subdivision (f) for an
employee or independent contractor of the person operating the
business at that location.
(3) Any certified place of business pursuant to Section 2553.
(b) A registered dispensing optician who fits and adjusts
spectacle lenses at a health facility or business location shall
provide to the patient written information disclosing the registrant'
s regular business address, certificate of registration number, phone
number, and the name and phone number of the person designated by
the licensee to receive complaints and inquiries, as specified in
Section 2554.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to permit a registered
dispensing optician or registered contact lens dispenser to fit or
adjust contact lenses at a health facility or at a business location,
as defined in subdivision (f).
(d) A registered spectacle lens dispenser may fit and adjust
spectacle lenses at a health facility or at a business location, as
defined in subdivision (f), only if he or she is in personal
attendance at a certified place of business pursuant to Section 2553
at least 40 percent of his or her regular working hours each week.
(e) A registered spectacle lens dispenser who fits and adjusts
spectacle lenses at a health facility or at a business location, as
defined in subdivision (f), other than on a temporary basis, shall
maintain an emergency patient response system. This system shall
consist of a telephone answering machine or service or a telephone
paging device and the registered spectacle lens dispenser shall
respond to patient inquiries received through the emergency system
within 24 hours excluding weekends and holidays.
(f) "Business location" means the place at which any business
employs more than 25 persons at any single business address, but
shall not include a health facility, as defined in Section 1250 of
the Health and Safety Code, or a certified place of business as
specified in Section 2553.
(g) This section shall not affect the requirements regarding
fitting and adjusting as set forth in Sections 2559.1 and 2560.

2553.6. The board shall deny any application for registration under
this chapter if any person licensed under Chapter 5 (commencing with
Section 2000), for whom the applicant, in accordance with Section
2550, proposes to fill any prescription, has any proprietary
interest, or has designated or arranged for any other person to have
any proprietary interest in or with the applicant.
The board may, in accordance with Section 2555, suspend, revoke,
or refuse to renew the certificate of any individual or firm under
this chapter, if such individual or firm, after the effective date of
this section, fills, or has filled, while holding a certificate
issued pursuant to this chapter, any prescription issued by any
person licensed under Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2000) who
has any proprietary interest, or has designated or arranged for any
other person to have any proprietary interest, in or with such
individual or firm.
Such penalties shall be in addition to, and not to the exclusion
of, any other remedies or penalties provided by law.
"Proprietary interest," for the purposes of this section, means
any membership, coownership, stock ownership, legal or beneficial
interest, any other proprietary interest, or profit-sharing
arrangement, designated or arranged or held, directly or indirectly
in any form, in or with any individual or firm applying for
registration or registered under this chapter, except stock ownership
in a corporation which is listed on a stock exchange regulated by
the Securities and Exchange Commission if the stock is acquired in a
transaction conducted through such stock exchange.
This section shall apply only to a dispensing optician required to
be registered pursuant to Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 2550)
and shall not be construed to modify Section 2557, or to affect the
fitting of prescription lenses by an assistant pursuant to Section
2544.

2554. Each registrant shall conspicuously and prominently display
at each registered location the name of the registrant's employee who
is currently designated to handle customer inquiries and complaints
and the telephone number where he or she may be reached during
business hours.
This section shall become operative on January 1, 1988.

2555. Certificates issued hereunder may in the discretion of the
division be suspended or revoked or subjected to terms and conditions
of probation for violating or attempting to violate this chapter,
Chapter 5.4 (commencing with Section 2540) or any regulation adopted
under this chapter or, Chapter 5.4 (commencing with Section 2540), or
Section 651, 654, or 655, or for incompetence, gross negligence, or
repeated similar negligent acts performed by the registrant or by an
employee of the registrant. The proceedings shall be conducted in
accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and the division
shall have all the powers granted therein.

2555.1. In the discretion of the Division of Licensing, a
certificate issued hereunder may be suspended or revoked if an
individual certificate holder or persons having any proprietary
interest who will engage in dispensing operations, have been
convicted of a crime substantially related to the qualifications,
functions and duties of a dispensing optician. The record of
conviction or a certified copy thereof shall be conclusive evidence
of the conviction.
A plea or verdict of guilty or a conviction following a plea of
nolo contendere made to a charge substantially related to the
qualifications, functions and duties of a dispensing optician is
deemed to be a conviction within the meaning of this article. The
board may order the certificate suspended or revoked, or may decline
to issue a certificate, when the time for appeal has elapsed, or the
judgment of conviction has been affirmed on appeal or when an order
granting probation is made suspending the imposition of sentence,
irrespective of a subsequent order under the provisions of Section
1203.4 of the Penal Code allowing such person to withdraw his or her
plea of guilty and to enter a plea of not guilty, or setting aside
the verdict of guilty, or dismissing the accusation, information or
indictment.
The proceeding under this section shall be conducted in accordance
with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division
3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and the board shall have all
the powers granted therein.
This section shall become operative on January 1, 1988.

2556. It is unlawful to do any of the following: to advertise the
furnishing of, or to furnish, the services of a refractionist, an
optometrist, or a physician and surgeon; to directly or indirectly
employ or maintain on or near the premises used for optical
dispensing, a refractionist, an optometrist, a physician and surgeon,
or a practitioner of any other profession for the purpose of any
examination or treatment of the eyes; or to duplicate or change
lenses without a prescription or order from a person duly licensed to
issue the same.

2556.5. Any person who holds himself out as a "dispensing optician"
or "registered dispensing optician" or who uses any other term or
letters indicating or implying that he is registered and holds a
certificate under the terms of this law without having at the time of
so doing a valid, unrevoked certificate, as provided in this
chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

2557. This chapter shall not affect any person licensed as an
optometrist under Chapter 7 of Division II of this code, or any
physician and surgeon licensed under Chapter 5 of Division II of this
code. Such exemption shall not apply to any optometrist or physician
and surgeon exclusively engaged in the business of filling
prescriptions for physicians and surgeons. This chapter does not
prohibit the sale of goggles, sun glasses, colored glasses, or
occupational protective eye devices if they do not have refractive
values nor do the provisions of this chapter prohibit the sale of
complete ready-to-wear eyeglasses as merchandise.

2558. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter
is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
punished by imprisonment in the county jail not less than 10 days nor
more than one year, or by a fine of not less than two hundred
dollars ($200) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by both
such fine and imprisonment.
The Division of Licensing of the Medical Board of California may
adopt, amend, or repeal, in accordance with the Administrative
Procedure Act, any regulations as are reasonably necessary to carry
out this chapter.

2559. Whenever any person has engaged, or is about to engage, in
any acts or practices which constitute, or will constitute, a
violation of any provision of this chapter, or Chapter 5.4
(commencing with Section 2540), the superior court in and for the
county wherein the acts or practices take place, or are about to take
place, may issue an injunction, or other appropriate order,
restraining such conduct on application of the Division of Licensing
of the Medical Board of California, the Attorney General or the
district attorney of the county.
The proceedings under this section shall be governed by Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 525) of Title 7 of Part 2 of the Code of
Civil Procedure.