Children’s Vision Bill Passes Key Committee

Assembly Member Autumn Burke surrounded by young supporters of AB 1110.

Assembly Bill 1110, authored by Assembly Member Autumn Burke, D-Inglewood, which would require children receive a comprehensive eye exam prior to starting school, passed the Assembly Education Committee on April 5. A COA-organized news conference featuring more than half-a-dozen kids and picked up by the media statewide preceded the hearing.

Sponsored by the state Board of Optometry (SBO) and enthusiastically supported by COA, the bipartisan measure received strong lawmaker support with a 4-1 vote and one abstention despite a contentious hearing with the opposition out in full force. Among the broad-based coalition supporting the bill are the California Black Health Network, California State PTA, Disability Rights California, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union. The legislation moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee where it is not expected to be acted upon until late May.

Presided over by SBO member Rachel Michelin, whose daughter’s need for glasses was missed by a school screening, the packed news conference was covered by more than one-half dozen local TV stations and newspapers and featured Assembly Member Burke, bill co-author Senator Janet Nguyen, R-Garden Grove, along with Drs. Reena Patel of SCCO at Marshall B. Ketchum University and David Redman, COA Legislation-Regulation Committee chair, and Pat McNeil, communications officer with VSP Vision Care. But the stars were the seven children representing the beneficiaries of the legislation. Watch the news conference here.

Links to media coverage are below:

KCRA NBC 3 News - Sacramento

Univision Noticias 19 Edición Nocturna - Sacramento

KSEE NBC 24 News – Fresno

KTXL FOX 40 News - Sacramento

KGET NBC 17 News - Bakersfield

KXTV ABC 10 News  – Sacramento

KCOY CBS 12 CCLN – Santa Barbara