State Board of Examiners in Optometry - Examination Requirements and Time Period for Inactive Status
HB0380 makes several technical and substantive changes to Maryland’s optometry licensing laws. It clarifies that applicants for an optometry license, as well as certain applicants seeking reinstatement, must pass all sections of each part of the required examination. The bill also removes outdated language requiring the State Board of Examiners in Optometry to itself administer examinations on a set schedule and eliminates the separate reexamination fee provision tied to board-administered retesting.
The bill further changes how inactive licenses are handled by limiting the length of time the Board may keep a licensee on inactive status to no more than six consecutive years. It preserves the Board’s authority to require continuing education and reinstatement fees for returning licensees, and it maintains the rule that an optometrist whose license has been expired for five years or more must pass the required examination again before reinstatement, unless otherwise exempted under the statute. The act takes effect July 1, 2026.
HB0380 amends provisions in the Health Occupations Article governing the State Board of Examiners in Optometry, specifically Sections 11-302, 11-304, 11-305, and 11-310. Its practical effect is to modernize examination language, remove obsolete references to the Board directly giving exams and charging a reexamination fee, and impose a new cap on the duration of inactive status. The bill affects optometry applicants, out-of-state licensees seeking waivers, and current Maryland optometrists seeking reinstatement after inactivity or expiration.
The available record suggests the bill was noncontroversial and received routine approval, ultimately being enacted as Chapter 26. There are no committee transcripts or recorded votes in the provided materials indicating opposition, amendments, or divided sentiment. The overall tone appears administrative and technical rather than politically contentious.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. The main policy choices in the bill are the removal of the Board’s direct examination-administration language, the elimination of the reexamination fee provision, and the six-year limit on inactive status. If any concern existed, it would most likely have centered on licensing flexibility versus regulatory oversight, but no stakeholder objections or competing positions are reflected in the record provided.