Section 4725.48 - Application and qualifications(A) Any person who desires to engage in optical dispensing shall file a properly completed application for an examination with the state vision professionals board or with the testing service the board has contracted with pursuant to section 4725.49 of the Revised Code. The application for examination shall be made using a form provided by the board and shall be accompanied by an examination fee the board shall establish by rule.(B) Any person who desires to engage in optical dispensing shall file a properly completed application for a license with the board with a licensure application fee of one hundred ninety-five dollars. No person shall be eligible to apply for a license under this division, unless the person is at least eighteen years of age, is free of contagious or infectious disease, has received a passing score, as determined by the board, on the examination administered under division (A) of this section, is a graduate of an accredited high school of any state, or has received an equivalent education and has successfully completed one of the following:
(1) For a spectacle dispensing optician license, one thousand hours of supervised experience under a licensed dispensing optician, optometrist, or physician engaged in the practice of ophthalmology;(2) For a spectacle-contact lens dispensing optician license, one thousand five hundred hours of supervised experience under a licensed dispensing optician, optometrist, or physician engaged in the practice of ophthalmology;(3) A two-year college level program in optical dispensing that has been approved by the board and that includes, but is not limited to, courses of study in mathematics, science, English, anatomy and physiology of the eye, applied optics, ophthalmic optics, measurement and inspection of lenses, lens grinding and edging, ophthalmic lens design, keratometry, and the fitting and adjusting of spectacle lenses and frames and contact lenses, including methods of fitting contact lenses and post-fitting care. (C) The board shall issue a license to practice as an ocularist in accordance with Chapter 4796. of the Revised Code to an applicant if either of the following applies: (1) The applicant holds a license in another state.(2) The applicant has satisfactory work experience, a government certification, or a private certification as described in that chapter as an ocularist in a state that does not issue that license.(D)(1) Subject to divisions (D)(3) and (4) of this section, the board shall not adopt, maintain, renew, or enforce any rule that precludes an individual from renewing a license as a dispensing optician issued under sections 4725.40 to 4725.59 of the Revised Code due to any past criminal activity or interpretation of moral character, unless the individual has committed a crime of moral turpitude or a disqualifying offense as those terms are defined in section 4776.10 of the Revised Code. If the board denies an individual a license or license renewal, the reasons for such denial shall be put in writing.
(2) The board may refuse to issue a license to an applicant because of a conviction of or plea of guilty to an offense if the refusal is in accordance with section 9.79 of the Revised Code.(3) In considering a renewal of an individual's license, the board shall not consider any conviction or plea of guilty prior to the initial licensing. However, the board may consider a conviction or plea of guilty if it occurred after the individual was initially licensed, or after the most recent license renewal.(4) The board may grant an individual a conditional license that lasts for one year. After the one-year period has expired, the license is no longer considered conditional, and the individual shall be considered fully licensed.(E) The board, subject to the approval of the controlling board, may establish examination fees in excess of the amount established by rule pursuant to this section, provided that such fees do not exceed those amounts established in rule by more than fifty per cent.Amended by 134th General Assembly, SB 131,§2, eff. 12/29/2023.Amended by 134th General Assembly, HB 509,§1, eff. 4/6/2023.Amended by 133rd General Assembly, HB 263,§1, eff. 10/9/2021.Amended by 132nd General Assembly, HB 420,§1, eff. 4/5/2019.Amended by 132nd General Assembly, HB 49,§130.11, eff. 1/21/2018.Amended by 129th General Assembly, SB 337, §1, eff. 9/28/2012.Amended by 129th General Assembly, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2011.Effective Date: 09-05-2001 .