Former House Speaker Jim Black is now a former eye doctor.

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, has agreed to surrender his license to practice optometry in North Carolina, according to a statement this afternoon by his attorney, Whit Powell.

But Powell said the agreement with the N.C. State Board of Examiners in Optometry leaves open the possibility of Black getting his license back when he completes his term in federal prison.

The move precludes a hearing by the state board. Black, speaking through his attorney, said he did not want to put the board "through the ordeal of a hearing" that he said would not be "in the best interest of my profession."