Montana Optometry Statutes and Administrative Rules (Title 37, Chapter 10, MCA; ARM 24.168)
Statutory and rule framework
The exam tests whether you can locate authority in the right layer: Title 37, chapter 10, MCA creates the Board of Optometry and sets the statutory definition of optometry, licensing and discipline powers; ARM 24.168 supplies the Board's operational rules for applications, examinations, CE, standards of practice and procedure. Read the statute for authority and the rule for details.
Core rules
- The Board regulates the practice of optometry, including examination, diagnosis, treatment and management of conditions of the visual system within statutory scope.
- The Board adopts rules, sets fees, approves applications, investigates complaints and imposes discipline.
- Administrative rules cannot exceed the statute; if a rule and statute conflict, the statute controls.
- Scope questions are answered by the statute's definition plus any endorsement rule, not by what another state allows.
Worked example
A licensee asks whether a new diagnostic procedure is permitted. Reasoning: first check the statutory definition of optometry and any explicit inclusion or exclusion; then check ARM 24.168 for a standard or endorsement; then check Board guidance and the license's scope. If the procedure is not authorized, the licensee must not perform it merely because equipment is available.
Traps
- Treating ARM as advisory; it is enforceable.
- Assuming the statute lists every detail; most procedures are in rules.
- Confusing optometry's scope with ophthalmology's medical and surgical scope.
- Relying on a bill's title without reading the enacted text.