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AB 183

Revises provisions relating to optometry. (BDR 54-151)

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Gregory Koenig

Revises optometry regulation to clarify licensure, discipline, scope (including telemedicine), prescribing, board composition, and certification requirements in Nevada.

Approved by the Governor. Chapter 111.
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Bill Summary · AB 183

AB 183 — Summary (2025, Chapter 111)

Revises provisions relating to the practice and regulation of optometry in Nevada. Approved by the Governor May 29, 2025 (Chapter 111).

Purpose / Intent

The bill clarifies and updates statutory rules governing licensure, discipline, scope of practice, certification, telemedicine, and certain administrative procedures of the Nevada State Board of Optometry. It states that licensing exists to protect public health and that any optometry license is a revocable privilege.

Key provisions and changes

  • License status and discipline

    • Declares an optometry license a revocable privilege.
    • Establishes procedures for the Board to summarily suspend a license when certain conditions are met; amended to require such suspension only after an investigation by the Board or its investigative committee.
    • Authorizes the Board to issue orders (e.g., compel appearance) to aid investigations.
    • Limits issuance of citations to violations that do not involve patient care or unethical/unprofessional conduct; citations and administrative fines in specified cases are not to be treated as formal disciplinary action and must not be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

  • Scope of practice & telemedicine

    • Clarifies that the practice of optometry includes optometric telemedicine.
    • Allows optometric assistants, under direct supervision, to perform specified activities in telemedicine settings.

  • Board composition & appointments

    • Increases the Nevada State Board of Optometry membership from four to five.
    • Raises the number of Governor-appointed licensee members from three to four (with the remaining public member(s) retained).

  • Licensure & endorsement

    • Requires applicants for a license by endorsement to provide proof they passed each part of the comprehensive national optometry examination (NBEO or successor).

  • Certification & prescribing

    • Removes a statutory requirement that certification applicants complete at least 40 hours of ophthalmologist-conducted clinical training to administer/prescribe certain pharmaceutical agents (instead left to Board regulation).
    • Broadens the statutory definition of “pharmaceutical agent” to include drugs subject to certain controlled‑substance prescription restrictions or added to Schedules III–V by the State Board of Pharmacy.
    • Clarifies that the existing limit of prescribing (not more than 90 morphine milligram equivalents per day and duration not exceeding 72 hours) applies only to narcotic opioid analgesics.

  • Other administrative provisions

    • Expands acceptable evidence for glaucoma‑treatment certification (diagnoses by ophthalmologists licensed in NV, DC, or any state/territory).
    • Creates an exception to the 30‑day reporting duty: a licensee need not report an out‑of‑state administrative fine if the NPDB has no corresponding report and no formal disciplinary order was issued.
    • Permits temporary ownership of an optometry practice (up to one year) by a guardian/guardian ad litem of a permanently incapacitated sole‑owner licensee.

Who is affected

  • Nevada optometrists and applicants (licensure/certification and prescribing authority)
  • Optometric assistants and telemedicine providers
  • Nevada State Board of Optometry (membership and enforcement procedures)
  • Patients (through telemedicine and prescribing changes)
  • Guardians/survivors of optometry practice owners

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Introduced Jan 8, 2025. Key actions: Assembly passage (Mar 20, 2025; initial votes shown Ayes 53, Noes 17), Senate amendments and unanimous passage as amended (Apr 22, 2025), enrolled May 27, 2025. Approved by Governor May 29, 2025 (Chapter 111).
  • Fiscal note: Effect on State — yes; Effect on Local Government — no.

Notes: During committee/legislative amendments, language that would have prohibited courts from staying Board suspension orders was removed. Several other technical amendments were adopted before final enrollment.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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