Texas Optometry Board

The Board office will be closed Monday December 23 – Friday December 27, 2024 for the holiday. The office also will be closed on Tuesday December 31, 2024 at noon and Wednesday January 1, 2025 for the New Year.

Staff will be monitoring email to help with renewal issues.

2024 License Renewals Are Open

If your license expires on December 31, 2024, you can now renew. Please be sure your continuing education is up to date in your CE Broker account prior to renewal.

License Renewal All licensees need 32 hours of Continuing Education displayed on their CE Broker accounts at time of renewal. Substantial penalties are imposed by state law for late renewals or late CE. See below for instructions regarding opioid CE for Optometric Glaucoma Specialist licensees.

Texas Optometry Board Meeting Thursday August 1 and Friday August 2 in Austin.
See the agenda here:

tob.texas.gov

Licensing Rules Proposed
Texas law provides that a therapeutic optometrist can be certified as an Optometric Glaucoma Specialist through specialized training and certification of skills. All graduates from accredited colleges of optometry after 2008 are qualified for the certification, but not all new therapeutic licensees apply for the certification.

In order to ensure that patients are seen and treated in the same manner, the Board has proposed changes to Chapter 271 - Examinations which would require all qualified new applicants to apply for the certification when applying for a therapeutic optometric license. Those applicants not qualified for the Optometric Glaucoma certification would continue to be licensed as a therapeutic optometrist.

By moving to a single and common level of licensure, the Board hopes to create additional transparency to the public (and pharmacists filling optometric prescriptions) about the optometrist’s scope of practice. This update would be effective on January 1, 2025.

Additionally, the Board proposed changes to Chapter 272 - Administration, Chapter 273 General Rules, and Chapter 280 - Therapeutic Optometry. A description of all the changes can be found in the link to the Texas Register below.

The amendments to the rules were published in the June 14, 2024 Texas Register (pages 4129-4147) and are open for public input through July 15, 2024. Please email comments on the proposal to [email protected]

www.sos.state.tx.us

The TOB is in the process of reviewing several rules in accordance with the requirements of Texas Government Code §2001.039, which requires state agencies to assess every four years whether the initial reasons for adopting a rule continue to exist.

Rules currently under review include 22 Texas Admin Code Part 14 - Chapter 271 Examinations; Chapter 272 Administration; Chapter 273 General Rules; and Chapter 275 Continuing Education.

Access text of the rules here: https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.ViewTAC?tac_view=3&ti=22&pt=14

During the process, the Board will determine if the rules are still valid or applicable. Any proposed amendments or repeal of a rule as a result of the review will be a separate action and be published in the Texas Register and open for comments on the specific amendments.

Comments on the review of any or all of these rules may be emailed to Janice McCoy ([email protected]) before April 26, 2024.

Texas Administrative Code

ALERT! Please see the notice on the Board's website regarding a potential scam.

As a reminder to all licensees, always be suspicious of letters that demand you cease and desist practice or mention other things that seem unusual – especially if you have not received notice of a complaint from the Board.

The Board will not call seeking payment of administrative penalties – all notices of administrative penalty will be in writing and require you to send a check to the Board’s mailing address.

https://tob.texas.gov/

Texas Optometry Board Meeting Thursday February 8 and Friday February 9 in Austin.

See the agenda here:

tob.texas.gov

The CE Broker website is back up and running. If you still need to renew your license, you can now check your CE listings to see if you have met your requirements.

The Board is aware of login issues with CE Broker. Even if you are not sure you are in compliance with CE requirements, please proceed with paying your renewal fee so that you avoid any late penalty charges.

Does your license expire on December 31, 2023? It is now time to renew your license.

If you wait until Sunday December 31 staff will not be able to assist with problems until the New Year - which could mean late penalties. The most common renewal issue that holds-up a renewal is continuing education verification.

All licensees need a total of 32 hours of CE for a biennial renewal. Half of those hours (16) must be "live" classes - which means physically in-person or via a synchronous webinar. Additionally, all licensees must have completed a CPR/BLS certification.

Start your renewal process here - https://tob.texas.gov/license-renewal-instructions-page-1/

The Texas Optometry Board will be closed Wednesday, November 22 through Friday, November 23 in observance of Thanksgiving.

Texas Optometry Board Meeting Thursday November 2 and Friday November 3 in Austin. See the agenda -

tob.texas.gov