II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4613 

To amend the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act to prevent certain 

automated calls and to require notice of the availability of contact lens 

prescriptions to patients, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 

Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Mr. WICKER, Mr. INHOFE, and Mr. PAUL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act 

to prevent certain automated calls and to require notice 

of the availability of contact lens prescriptions to patients, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Contact Lens Rule 

5 Modernization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has 

2 received over 9,000 comments since 2016 related to 

3 part 315 of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations 

4 (commonly known as the ‘‘Contact Lens Rule’’), in5 cluding letters from over 100 Members of Congress. 

6 In addition, the Committee on Appropriations of the 

7 Senate and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

8 House of Representatives have included language 7 

9 times since 2016 urging the FTC to consider patient 

10 safety concerns or regulatory burdens in its rule11 making. 

12 (2) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 

13 recorded over 1,075 contact lens-related corneal in14 fections from 2005 to 2015, with 20 percent of those 

15 patients having permanent vision loss. 

16 (3) Over the last 20 years, the contact lens 

17 marketplace has grown more competitive and diver18 sified, with many new and different types of sellers. 

19 As a result, automated phone calls as a means of 

20 passive verification of contact lens prescriptions have 

21 significantly increased since Congress passed the 

22 Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (P.L. 

23 108–164) in 2003, becoming the primary method of 

24 verification used by online sellers. 


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1 (4) Outlining several concerns, the FTC in its 

2 Final Notice of Rulemaking, published in the Fed3 eral Register on August 17, 2020, stated that ‘‘auto4 mated telephone calls are a commonly used method 

5 of verification. Moreover, these calls impose a cost 

6 on prescribers, and there are potential health risks 

7 to patients from incomplete and incomprehensible 

8 automated telephone requests.’’ The FTC also ac9 knowledged that it lacks enforcement capability re10 lated to automated calls, stating ‘‘the Commission 

11 cannot reliably assess whether that call was compli12 ant and further whether the seller has a pattern of 

13 non-compliant calls (and selling after such calls).’’. 

14 (5) The FTC has repeatedly acknowledged the 

15 ambiguity created by the lack of an explicit statu16 tory ban on automated calls as a means of 

17 verification. 

18 (6) From 2011 to 2016, out of about 

19 200,000,000 contact lens prescriptions written, the 

20 FTC received only 309 complaints, resulting in 45 

21 letters to prescribers warning of potential Contact 

22 Lens Rule violations. 

23 (7) The FTC’s 2020 Final Contact Lens Rule 

24 addresses prescription release concerns by signifi25 cantly increasing the paperwork burden on optomVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:05 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4613.IS S4613

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1 etrists and ophthalmologists, requiring that eye care 

2 professionals keep a new record signed by the pa3 tient (or digitally agreed to) confirming the receipt 

4 of each of the 45,000,000 contact lens prescriptions 

5 written each year. 

6 (8) The vast majority of optometrists operate 

7 small businesses, with over 80 percent of practices 

8 having less than 10 employees. The paperwork bur9 den in the FTC’s 2020 Final Contact Lens Rule is 

10 estimated to cost each practice between $10,000 and 

11 $18,000 a year. 

12 (9) The State of California requires prescribers 

13 to post a sign informing patients of their right to re14 ceive their prescription. 

15 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FAIRNESS TO CONTACT 

16 LENS CONSUMERS ACT. 

17 (a) PATIENT NOTIFICATION.—Section 2(a) of the 

18 Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (15 U.S.C. 

19 7601(a)) is amended— 

20 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

21 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 

22 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(3) shall post a conspicuous notice that, upon 

25 the completion of a contact lens fitting, the preVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:05 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4613.IS S4613

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1 scriber is required to provide a copy of the contact 

2 lens prescription to the patient.’’. 

3 (b) PATIENT CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT OF CON4 TACT LENS PRESCRIPTION.—Section 2(b) of the Fairness 

5 to Contact Lens Consumers Act (15 U.S.C. 7601(b)) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 

8 semicolon; 

9 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 

10 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(4) require the patient to acknowledge any 

13 contact lens prescription release in writing or elec14 tronically.’’. 

15 (c) PROHIBITION ON AUTOMATED CALLS.—Section 4 

16 of the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (15 

17 U.S.C. 7603) is amended by striking subsection (g) and 

18 inserting the following: 

19 ‘‘(g) DIRECT COMMUNICATION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As used in this section, the 

21 term ‘direct communication’ includes communication 

22 by telephone, facsimile, or electronic mail. 

23 ‘‘(2) CLARIFICATION.—Such term shall not in24 clude a telephone call made using an artificial or 

25 prerecorded voice message.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. 

2 Section 4(c)(6) of the Fairness to Contact Lens Con3 sumers Act (15 U.S.C. 7603(c)(6)) is amended by insert4 ing ‘‘and electronic mail address’’ after ‘‘telephone num5 ber’’. 

Æ 


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