True or False: Public members of the board are required to be licensed by the board.

Public members of the board are not required to be licensed by the board. The role of public members is to represent the interests of the general public and provide a voice for consumers in the regulation of optometry. Their primary responsibility is to ensure that the board's decisions align with public welfare and safety, rather than to act as licensed practitioners.

In California, public members can be appointed to the board without holding any professional license in optometry. This separation helps maintain an objective perspective within the board and emphasizes that their input is rooted in consumer advocacy rather than professional practice. Therefore, the statement that public members must be licensed is false. The other options either introduce conditions or qualifications that do not apply to public members, making them less accurate.