Eye-surgery law petitions are handed in
Aim is to let voters decide on wider optometrist role
The Safe Surgery Arkansas committee, which has proposed letting voters decide the fate of a 2019 law that would allow optometrists to perform a broader range of surgeries, on Tuesday turned in petitions with more than 84,000 signatures in an attempt to get the referendum on the 2020 ballot.
Committee officials believe they have enough valid signatures of registered voters to qualify the proposal for the November 2020 ballot.
But Vicki Farmer, chairman of the Arkansans for Healthy Eyes committee that supports this law, suggested that many of these signatures may have been illegally collected and should not be counted as valid.
The Safe Surgery Arkansas committee turned in 12,570 petitions containing 84,114 signatures to the secretary of state’s office, committee chairman and ophthalmologist Laurie Barber of Little Rock said in a filing with the office. The committee needs 53,492 valid signatures to qualify its proposal for the ballot, according to the secretary of state’s office.
The optometrist law —
Act 579 — had been scheduled to go into effect today, but it’s now suspended with the filing of the signatures, said Alex Gray, an attorney for Safe Surgery Arkansas.
Act 579 would allow optometrists to administer injections around the eye, remove bumps and lesions from the eyelids, and perform certain types of laser surgery now performed by ophthalmologists — specifically capsulotomy, a surgery performed after cataract surgery, and trabeculoplasty, a procedure to reduce pressure from glaucoma. Optometrists are still banned from doing cataract surgery and radial keratotomy surgery and selling prescription drugs.
The law also would require the state Board of Optometry to establish credentialing requirements for a license to administer or perform these procedures. It also would require each optometrist who meets the requirements for certification of authorized laser procedures to report to the board regarding the outcome of the procedures and to also report to the state Board of Health.
During this year’s regular legislative session, supporters of Act 579 said it would allow optometrists to use more of their training and would provide easier access to eye care for patients in rural areas. But the law’s opponents, including groups representing ophthalmologists and other physicians, argued that it would put patients at risk.
Gray said that “we are very confident” that the committee has enough valid signatures.
“Arkansans were extremely receptive to the referendum petition and I think that people across the state understand that patient safety is an important issue,” he told reporters. “They understand that this is an issue that the state needs to vote on when you are talking about patient safety, so I think people want the opportunity to have a statewide vote and we’re excited that we’ll be able to do that.”
CANVASSERS QUESTIONED
Farmer said, “It is our understanding that many of the signatures turned in to the secretary of state today by the special interest group working to undo Act 579 may have been collected unlawfully and should not be counted as valid for any purpose.
“Arkansas law now requires that before a paid canvasser may begin collecting signatures from voters, the sponsor of a measure must submit to the secretary of state a sworn statement from each canvasser, verifying the canvasser has never been convicted of a felony or crime involving fraud, forgery, identity theft, or other election law violations,” she said, referring to Act 376 of 2019. Act 376 took effect in March.
The Safe Surgery Committee was formed in early June and reported spending $150,000 for signature collection by June 17, according to secretary of state’s records. But the committee did not file a single sworn statement to permit paid canvassing until July 10, said Farmer, who also is executive director of the Arkansas Optometric Association.
“The law is clear about what is required of paid canvassers in Arkansas. Arkansas voters deserve to know that the person asking for their signature is legally authorized to do so,” Farmer said. “We trust that if any of the signatures turned in [Tuesday] were collected by paid canvassers prior to July 10, the secretary of state will follow the law and will not count those signatures as valid.”
In response, Gray said in a written statement, “These kinds of hypertechnical arguments are raised every election cycle by those who want to deprive voters of the right to initiate and vote on measures.
“Safe Surgery Arkansas has complied with Arkansas law and we are confident that the Secretary of State, or if necessary the Arkansas Supreme Court, will respect the will of the voters and send this Act to an up or down vote of the people,” Gray said.
But Republican Secretary of State John Thurston said Tuesday afternoon in a text message to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he “has decided to follow the plain language of the statute and will not count any signatures solicited by paid canvassers that were solicited prior to the filing of the canvasser’s affidavit required by law.”
In response, Gray said in a written statement, “The plain language of the constitution requires the secretary to count the signatures of registered voters on this petition.
“Failing to do so would not only disenfranchise over 80,000 voters, but would also be directly in contravention to Arkansas law,” he said.
NEXT MONTH KEY
Thurston spokesman Chris Powell said in a written statement that “we have 30 days to verify [signatures of registered voters] and estimate 3-4 weeks” to do that.
“I’m told there is a cure period per Article 5 of the Constitution and works the same as it has previously for other ballot measures,” he added.
Under Article 5, Section 1, of the Arkansas Constitution, if the secretary of state decides there aren’t enough signatures, he is required to give the sponsor at least 30 days to get more signatures if the petitions contain at least 75% of the number required. The constitution also requires the sponsor to have at least 75% of the required number of signatures from each of at least 15 counties.
Under Act 376, the state Board of Election Commissioners will now consider whether to certify the referendum’s proposed popular name and ballot title as sufficient. Before the enactment of this law, the attorney general’s approval was required prior to petitions being circulated.
“We haven’t set a meeting yet but I’ll hope to have a date set within a few days,” said Daniel Shults, director of the state Board of Election Commissioners.
House Bill 1251 by Rep. Jon Eubanks, R-Paris, which eventually became Act 579, initially failed to clear the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Feb. 19. But the legislation was amended and on March 5 cleared the House committee without a vote to spare.
HB1251 cleared the state House of Representatives in a 70-19 vote and the state Senate in a 25-8 vote before Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed it into law.
Eubanks said Tuesday that he is disappointed about the proposed referendum on the fate of Act 579 “with the work I put into it.”
“I guess it is up to others, the court or secretary of state, to determine whether they went through the process correctly,” he said. “That is my main concern.”