STAND. COM. REP. NO.  457-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 3109

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 3109 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISPENSING OPTICIANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to include the sale of non‑corrective contact lenses as part of the licensed occupation of a dispensing optician.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from three different entities within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs:  the Regulated Industries Complaints Office, the Board of Examiners in Optometry, and the Dispensing Opticians Program in the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division.

     Your Committee finds that the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act now classifies all contact lens, including non-correction, colored, and decorative lenses, as ophthalmic medical devices that require a prescription in order to be dispensed or sold.  Your Committee further finds that this measure will likewise prohibit the sale of decorative, non-corrective contact lenses by persons who are not licensed as dispending opticians.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 3109 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair