HCS HB 486 -- VISION EXAMINATION FOR STUDENTS

SPONSOR:  Barry

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Children,
Families and Health by a vote of 15 to 0.

Beginning with school year 2002-2003, students entering Head
Start, kindergarten, or first grade in a public school must have
a vision examination by January 1 following their enrollment.
This substitute adds an additional use for the Blindness
Education Screening and Program Treatment Fund to pay for the
pre-school vision examinations of children for whom insurance
does not cover the cost of an examination.  The Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education, in conjunction with the
Department of Health, must maintain a list of programs through
which free or reduced cost eye care may be available and will
provide the list to schools and parent organizations.  The
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education may promulgate
rules to implement the substitute.

FISCAL NOTE:  Not available at time of printing.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that students must be able to see in
order to learn, and that the bill is an effort to facilitate
learning by requiring students to have a comprehensive eye
examination.  A growing number of students have been reported to
have undiagnosed vision problems.  Current screening techniques
can only detect a few vision problems such as color blindness
and strabismus.  Students need a more extensive eye examination
which would detect eye disorders that were not detected by a
vision screening test.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Davis; Missouri
Optometric Association; American Foundation for Vision
Awareness; Missouri State Teachers Association; and Missouri
Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that they support
current screening practices conducted in schools by nurses.
Certain vision examinations could be conducted by any licensed
pediatrician or family practitioner and the proposed legislation
would result in mandated vision examinations, thus resulting in
long waiting periods for a scheduled examination and problems
with insurance coverage.  The bill should allow any physician to
conduct a vision examination.

Testifying against the bill was Oscar Cruz, M.D.

Joseph Deering, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated November 26, 2001 at 11:44 am