37-10-302. Examination -- qualifications -- application -- issuance of certificate. (1) The board shall adopt rules relative to and governing the qualifications of applicants for certificates of registration as optometrists. If the applicant does not meet the requirements of the rules, the applicant is not eligible to take an examination to practice optometry in this state. If the applicant meets the requirements of the rules, the applicant must pass an examination given by the national board of examiners in optometry on behalf of the department, subject to 37-1-101. Examinations must be practical in character and designed to ascertain the applicant's fitness to practice the profession of optometry and must be conducted in the English language. The department shall publish and distribute the examination requirements for a certificate to practice optometry in this state. The board may accept the grades an applicant has received in the written examinations given by the national board of examiners in optometry.
     (2) A person is not eligible to receive a certificate of registration unless that person is 18 years of age or older and of good moral character.
     (3) A person is not eligible to receive a certificate of registration unless that person has certificates of graduation from an accredited high school and from a school of optometry in which the practice and science of optometry is taught in a course of study covering 8 semesters or 4 years of actual attendance and that is accredited by the international association of boards of examiners in optometry.
     (4) A person desiring a certificate of registration shall file an application, in the manner prescribed by the board, and pay a fee prescribed by the board.
     (5) A person who successfully passes the examination administered by the national board of examiners in optometry and who has met the requirements for qualification as an optometrist must be registered in a register kept by the department and, on the payment of a fee prescribed by the board, must receive a certificate of registration signed by the members of the board.

     History: En. Ch. 138, L. 1907; Sec. 1611, Rev. C. 1907; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 128, L. 1917; re-en. Sec. 3159, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 171, L. 1925; re-en. Sec. 3159, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 130, L. 1939; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 252, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 24, Ch. 94, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 133, Ch. 350, L. 1974; R.C.M. 1947, 66-1305(1) thru (5); amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 241, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 23, Ch. 345, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 121, L. 1993.