republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1708.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "State Board of Optometry: practice of optometry: licensure."
description: "Existing law, the Optometry Practice Act, until January 1, 2018, establishes the State Board of Optometry. Under existing law, the State Board of Optometry is responsible for the licensure and regulation of the practice of optometry, registered dispensing opticians, spectacle lens dispensers, and contact lens dispensers. Existing law, until January 1, 2018, authorizes the State Board of Optometry to appoint an executive officer to perform duties delegated by the board. Existing law establishes the Optometry Fund and provides that all fee money collected under the act is paid into that fund and continuously appropriated. Existing law makes a violation of that act punishable as a crime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1708"
citation: "California AB 1708 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["State Board of Optometry: practice of optometry: licensure."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Low"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 29
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-03-02"
last_action: "2017-10-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3087aba0-1bcc-4f98-b6c0-dc3bf67f332c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708"
source_hash: "0772f53dd5875f84cfd5d903784652cee240592c76fd87ca62f9619d8ccedba5"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1708 (20172018) — State Board of Optometry: practice of optometry: licensure.

Existing law, the Optometry Practice Act, until January 1, 2018, establishes the State Board of Optometry. Under existing law, the State Board of Optometry is responsible for the licensure and regulation of the practice of optometry, registered dispensing opticians, spectacle lens dispensers, and contact lens dispensers. Existing law, until January 1, 2018, authorizes the State Board of Optometry to appoint an executive officer to perform duties delegated by the board. Existing law establishes the Optometry Fund and provides that all fee money collected under the act is paid into that fund and continuously appropriated. Existing law makes a violation of that act punishable as a crime.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **03/02/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708&version=20170AB170899INT)
2. **06/13/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708&version=20170AB170898AMD)
3. **07/05/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708&version=20170AB170897AMD)
4. **09/01/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708&version=20170AB170896AMD)
5. **09/08/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708&version=20170AB170895AMD)
6. **10/07/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708&version=20170AB170893CHP)
7. **AB1708** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708)
8. **09/19/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1708&version=20170AB170894ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- With recommendation: That Senate amendments be concurred in. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1708 Low By Hill — **38–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 1708 B. & P. Assembly Third Reading By LOW — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1708 Low Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **75–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Low — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-03-02** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-03-03** From printer. May be heard in committee April 2.
- **2017-03-16** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-03** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1850.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-30** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-31** Introduced measure version corrected. `introduction`
- **2017-06-08** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (July 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-08-21** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-13** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 2. Page 2851.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2017-09-14** Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-14** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 3409.)
- **2017-09-15** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (September 14). `committee-passage`
- **2017-09-15** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 1. Page 3527.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-26** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-10-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 564, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3087aba0-1bcc-4f98-b6c0-dc3bf67f332c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).