Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a physician or pharmacist to, without a prescription or permit, furnish hypodermic needles and syringes for human use to a person 18 years of age or older, and authorizes a person 18 years of age or older to, without a prescription or license, obtain hypodermic needles and syringes solely for personal use from a physician or pharmacist, as a public health measure, as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, requires a pharmacy that furnishes nonprescription syringes to provide written information or verbal counseling to consumers, as specified, at the time of furnishing or sale of nonprescription hypodermic needles or syringes. Existing law, when no other penalty is provided, makes a knowing violation of the Pharmacy Law a misdemeanor and, in all other instances, makes a violation punishable as an infraction. This bill would delete the January 1, 2026, repeal date, thereby extending those provisions indefinitely, and would make other conforming changes. By indefinitely extending an existing requirement under the Pharmacy Law, the violation of which is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(1) Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, requires the California State Board of Pharmacy within the Department of Consumer Affairs to license and regulate the practice of pharmacy, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacies. Existing law authorizes the board, with the approval of the Director of Consumer Affairs, to appoint an executive officer to exercise certain powers and to perform certain duties delegated by the board, as specified. Existing law repeals the provisions establishing the board and authorizing the appointment of an executive officer on January 1, 2026, rendering the board subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature. This bill would provide that the board has exclusive authority to administer and enforce the Pharmacy Law related to the practice of pharmacy and the licensing of pharmacists and pharmacies, and would specify that its provisions do not prohibit the board from evaluating or acting regarding unlicensed activity, as provided. The bill would extend the repeal date of the above-described provisions to January 1, 2030. The bill would additionally require the board to establish a Pharmacy Technician Advisory Committee to advise and make recommendations to the board, as specified. Existing law specifies the fees for issuance or renewal of licenses issued pursuant to the Pharmacy Law, including, among others, pharmacy licenses. This bill would require the board to waive the application fee for a pharmacy operating a physical location in a medically underserved area, as defined, and would authorize the board to waive the fee for the annual renewal of a license if the licensee provides the board with certification of continued operation in the medically underserved area. (2) Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to perform various procedures and functions, including those related to dispensing or furnishing drugs or devices, as specified. Existing law generally requires a pharmacist's dispensing or furnishing drugs to be done pursuant to a valid prescription, except as provided in specified circumstances. Those exceptions include furnishing an FDA-approved opioid antagonist, emergency contraception drug therapy, self-administered hormonal contraceptives, nicotine replacement products, certain medications for individuals traveling outside of the United States, and certain HIV medications, as specified. Existing law requires certain conditions to be met for a pharmacist to authorize the initiation of a prescription under certain of those exceptions or to otherwise provide clinical advice, services, information, or patient consultation. This bill would revise and recast the above-described provisions to authorize a pharmacist to, among other things, furnish dangerous devices, to furnish FDA-approved or authorized medications as part of preventative health care services that do not require a diagnosis, as specified, and to complete missing information on a prescription for a noncontrolled medication if there is evidence to support the change. The bill would require that a pharmacist provide those and other specified services or activities consistent with the accepted standard of care, defined to mean the degree of care a prudent and reasonable pharmacist licensed under the Pharmacy Law, with similar education, training, experience, resources, and setting, would use in a similar situation. The bill would make nonsubstantive, conforming changes. Existing law requires the clinical advice, services, information, or patient consultation that a pharmacist provides to be provided to a health care professional or to a patient. This bill would authorize a pharmacist to provide the clinical advice, services, information, or patient consultation to a patient's agent. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a pharmacist to furnish COVID-19 oral therapeutics, as defined, following a positive test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in accordance with specified requirements. This bill would delete the January 1, 2026, repeal date, thereby extending this authorization indefinitely. Existing law prohibits a dangerous drug from being refilled without the authorization of the prescriber, except under specified circumstances. Under those circumstances, existing law requires a pharmacist to make every reasonable effort to contact the prescriber. This bill would remove the above-described requirement that the pharmacist make every reasonable effort to contact the prescriber. Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to dispense not more than a 90-day supply of a dangerous drug other than a controlled substance pursuant to a valid prescription that specifies an initial quantity of less than a 90-day supply followed by periodic refills of that amount if certain requirements are met. Existing law prohibits a pharmacist from dispensing a greater supply pursuant to that provision if the prescriber indicates that there is to be no change to the quantity of the refill, as specified. This bill would remove that prohibition. Existing law authorizes a pharmacy to dispense epinephrine auto-injectors to a prehospital emergency medical care person or lay rescuer for the purpose of rendering emergency care, as specified. This bill would remove the above-described authorization. (3) Existing law authorizes a licensed pharmacist to perform additional functions if the licensee is recognized by the board as "an advanced practice pharmacist" by meeting certain requirements. Those additional functions include, among others, performing patient assessments, ordering and interpreting drug therapy-related tests, and initiating, adjusting, or discontinuing drug therapy, as specified. The requirements for recognition as an advanced practice pharmacist include having completed a combination of specified certifications, postgraduate residencies, or experience under a collaborative practice agreement or protocol with a physician. Existing law also requires an advanced practice pharmacist to complete 10 hours of continuing education in addition to the continuing education otherwise required at the time of a second or subsequent license renewal. This bill would revise those and other related provisions to refer to those licensees as "advanced pharmacist practitioners," instead of as "advanced practice pharmacists." (4) Existing law prohibits any person from furnishing or dispensing any dangerous drug or device on the internet for delivery to any person in California without a prescription issued pursuant to a "good faith prior examination," as provided. This bill would instead refer to that examination as an "appropriate prior examination." (5) Existing law authorizes the board to issue citations containing fines and orders of abatement for violations of specified law, as provided. Existing law authorizes the board to bring an action against a chain community pharmacy under common ownership or management for fines for a violation of the Pharmacy Law that was expressly encouraged by the common owner or manager, as provided. This bill would instead apply those fines for a violation that was expressly encouraged by any owner or manager of the chain community pharmacy. Existing law authorizes the board to bring an action for fines for repeated violations of materially similar provisions of the Pharmacy Law within 5 years by 3 or more pharmacies operating under common ownership or management within a chain community pharmacy, as specified. Existing law provides a pharmacy with a defense if it establishes that the violation was contrary to a written policy that was communicated by the common owner or manager to all employees where the violation occurred. Existing law also provides a defense if the pharmacy establishes that, within 6 months after the violation, the common owner or manager corrected all unlawful policies, communicated the change in policies, and provided the board with proof of abatement of the violation, as specified. This bill would, for the defense that the violation was contrary to a written policy, also require the entity to establish that it has complied with the policy. The bill would revise the above-described corrective-actions defense by allowing those actions to be undertaken by any owner or manager of the pharmacy. The bill would additionally authorize the board to bring an action for fines for repeated violations of materially similar provisions of the Pharmacy Law against a mail order pharmacy, defined as a nonresident pharmacy that dispenses medications and ships them to patients via the postal service or other mail delivery method, as provided. The bill would require the board, in determining the amount of the fine, to consider mitigating and aggregating factors, as specified. (6) Existing law prohibits the board from issuing a pharmacy license to a person who has a shared community or financial interest with a person authorized to prescribe or write a prescription, as provided. This bill would establish an exception to the above-described prohibition under which the applicant and the prescriber would be required to provide statements that the prescriber disavows any community or financial interest in the license and to transmute any interest in the license that is shared community property into the separate property of the applicant, as provided. The bill would prohibit a pharmacy granted a license pursuant to this exception from filling any prescriptions issued or prescribed by a person who shares a community or other financial interest with the licensee or a prescriber at the same place of business as that person if the prescriber owns an interest greater than 10% in the practice issuing the prescription. Existing law authorizes the board to issue a retired license to a licensed pharmacist, as specified. Existing law authorizes the holder of a retired license to restore their license to active status by passing the examination that is required for initial licensure with the board. This bill would instead authorize the holder of a retired license to request to restore their license to active status within 3 years of issuance of the retired license by paying a renewal fee and successfully completing certain continuing education within the 2 years preceding the request, as specified. If more than 3 years have elapsed since the issuance of the retired license, the bill would require the holder of the retired license to reapply for licensure as a pharmacist, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to deny a license application if the applicant has been convicted of a crime or subjected to formal discipline that would be grounds for denial of a federal registration to distribute controlled substances. This bill would also authorize the board to deny a license application if the applicant has been convicted of a crime involving fraud in violation of state or federal laws related to health care or involving financial identity theft. Existing law requires certain licensed facilities to perform a self-assessment evaluating compliance with specified provisions of the Pharmacy Law, as provided. This bill would require all licensed facilities to complete a self-assessment every odd-numbered year and within 30 days of certain changes to the license, management personnel, and location, as provided. The bill would require this self-assessment to be signed under penalty of perjury, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by expanding the crime of perjury. (7) Existing law requires a pharmacy to designate a pharmacist-in-charge and notify the board within 30 days of that designation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the pharmacist-in-charge to, among other things, make staffing decisions and notify store management of dangerous conditions, as specified. This bill would require the pharmacist-in-charge to determine the appropriate pharmacist-to-technician ratio, within prescribed limits, and prohibit anyone else from interfering with the exercise of the pharmacist-in-charge's independent professional judgment in setting this ratio. The bill would additionally require the pharmacist-in-charge to notify the owner or hospital administrator of dangerous conditions, as specified. Existing law provides for the licensing of nonresident pharmacies, as specified. Existing law prohibits a pharmacist at a nonresident pharmacy whose license has been revoked from prescribing a dangerous drug or providing other pharmacy-related services, as specified. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2026, require a nonresident pharmacy, as a prerequisite to registering with the board and ongoing licensure, to identify a California-licensed pharmacist employed and working at the nonresident pharmacy to be proposed to serve as the pharmacist-in-charge. The bill would also require the nonresident pharmacy, within 90 days of designating a pharmacist-in-charge, to notify the board of the identity and license number of that pharmacist and the date they were designated, as specified. The bill would require the nonresident pharmacy, within 90 days, to notify the board of a pharmacist-in-charge ceasing to act as the pharmacist-in-charge and to propose another pharmacist to take over as the pharmacist-in-charge. The bill would additionally, beginning July 1, 2026, prohibit a nonresident pharmacy from permitting a pharmacist-in-charge who is not licensed in California from working at a nonresident pharmacy. The bill would authorize the board to inspect a nonresident pharmacy. The bill would require a nonresident pharmacy to deposit a reasonable amount, as determined by the board, necessary to cover the board's estimated reasonable costs of performing the inspection, as specified. (8) Existing law limits a pharmacy with only one pharmacist to one pharmacy technician performing packaging, manipulative, repetitive, or other nondiscretionary tasks. This bill would increase this limit to 3 pharmacy technicians performing those tasks. (9) Existing law requires a pharmacy to preserve certain records, as provided. This bill would require a pharmacy to additionally maintain records related to prescribed policies and procedures in a readily retrievable format. The bill would also impose requirements related to electronically maintained records. (10) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4064.5 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 418 to be operative only if this bill and SB 418 is enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4076 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 260 to be operative only if this bill and AB 260 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (11) Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, establishes the California State Board of Pharmacy for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies. Existing law authorizes a prescriber to dispense a dangerous drug, including a controlled substance, to an emergency room patient if specified requirements are met, including that the dangerous drug is acquired by the hospital pharmacy. This bill would, notwithstanding any other law, authorize a prescriber to dispense an unused portion of a dangerous drug acquired by the hospital pharmacy to an emergency room patient upon discharge if certain conditions are satisfied, including that the dangerous drug is not a controlled substance and that dispensing the unused portion of the dangerous drug is required to continue treatment of the patient. Existing law requires an automated drug delivery system (ADDS) that is installed, leased, owned, or operated in California to be licensed by the board. Existing law exempts an automated unit dose system (AUDS) , a type of ADDS, from licensure if the AUDS is used solely to provide doses administered to patients while in a licensed general acute care hospital facility or a licensed acute psychiatric hospital facility if the licensed hospital pharmacy owns or leases the AUDS and owns the dangerous drugs and dangerous devices in the AUDS. This bill would also exempt from licensure an AUDS that is used to dispense dangerous drugs to emergency room patients in accordance with specified requirements.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy, and makes a violation of the Pharmacy Law a misdemeanor. This bill would prohibit a pharmacy from engaging in the retail sale of cigarettes or tobacco products. Because a violation of this provision would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2023, requires a retailer to hold a license from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to engage in the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products for each retail location. Existing law requires the department to issue a license to a retailer upon receipt of a completed application and payment of required fees, unless certain circumstances apply. This bill would prohibit the department from issuing a license to a retailer if the retailer is a pharmacy or the application is for a retail location that contains a pharmacy. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law authorizes a physician or pharmacist to, without a prescription or permit, furnish hypodermic needles and syringes for human use to a person 18 years of age or older, and authorizes a person 18 years of age or older to, without a prescription or license, obtain hypodermic needles and syringes solely for personal use from a physician or pharmacist, as a public health measure, as specified. Existing law, when no other penalty is provided, makes a knowing violation of the Pharmacy Law a misdemeanor and, in all other instances, makes a violation punishable as an infraction. This bill would expand the above-described provisions to authorize a delegee of a physician or pharmacist to furnish hypodermic needles and syringes for human use to a person 18 years of age or older. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The Pharmacy Law requires the California State Board of Pharmacy within the Department of Consumer Affairs to license and regulate the practice of pharmacy, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacies. The Pharmacy Law authorizes the board, during a declared federal, state, or local emergency, to waive application of any provision of the Pharmacy Law or the regulations adopted pursuant to it, if, in the board's opinion, the waiver will aid in the protection of public health or the provision of patient care. Existing law authorizes the board to elect to continue to waive application of any provision of the Pharmacy Law for up to 90 days following the termination of a declared public emergency if, in the board's opinion, the continued waiver will aid in the protection of public health or the provision of patient care. This bill would instead authorize the board to elect to continue to waive application of any provision of the Pharmacy Law for up to 120 days following the termination of a declared emergency.
(1) Existing law prohibits specified medical professionals, including nurses, not employed in that capacity by the State Department of Health Care Services, and any other person, from being employed or permitted to supervise the health and physical development of pupils unless that person holds a services credential with a specialization in health or a valid credential, as provided. Notwithstanding that provision, existing law authorizes any pupil who is required to take, during the regular schoolday, medication prescribed for them by a physician and surgeon or ordered for them by a physician assistant, to be assisted by the school nurse or other designated school personnel, and to carry and self-administer, prescription auto-injectable epinephrine if the school district receives the appropriate written statements, as specified. This bill would revise and recast that latter provision by authorizing assistance with, and the carrying and self-administration of, emergency epinephrine delivery systems, instead of auto-injectors, and making its provisions also apply to county offices of education and charter schools. Notwithstanding any other law, existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to provide emergency epinephrine auto-injectors, to be stored in an accessible location upon need for emergency use, to school nurses or trained volunteer personnel, and authorizes school nurses and trained personnel to use epinephrine auto-injectors to provide emergency medical aid to persons suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from an anaphylactic reaction, as provided. This bill would revise and recast those provisions by requiring local educational agencies, defined as a school district, county office of education, or charter school, to provide emergency epinephrine delivery systems, instead of auto-injectors, as provided, to be stored at each schoolsite, including at the location of any state or federally subsidized childcare program operated by or under contract with the local educational agency, and by expanding the definition of "volunteer" or "trained personnel" to include certain employees of childcare programs, as provided. To the extent that this bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes a pharmacy to furnish epinephrine auto-injectors to a school district, county office of education, or charter school for purposes of the requirements described in paragraph (1) above if specified requirements are met, including that the auto-injectors are furnished exclusively for use at a school district site, county office of education, or charter school. This bill would authorize a pharmacy to furnish epinephrine delivery systems, instead of auto-injectors, to those local educational agencies, subject to the same requirements, except that the delivery systems may also be furnished exclusively for use at any state or federally subsidized childcare program operated by or under contract with one of those local educational agencies. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which health care services are provided to low-income individuals pursuant to a schedule of benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, pharmacist services are a benefit under the Medi-Cal program, subject to federal approval, and the rate of reimbursement for pharmacist services is 85% of the fee schedule for physician services, except for medication therapy management (MTM) pharmacist services. Existing law requires the department to implement an MTM reimbursement methodology relating to the dispensing of qualified specialty drugs by an eligible contracting pharmacy, which would be intended to supplement Medi-Cal payments to eligible pharmacies for MTM pharmacist services provided in conjunction with certain specialty drug therapy categories. This bill would additionally require the rate of reimbursement for advanced practice pharmacist services to be the same as the fee schedule for physician services, including MTM pharmacist services. The bill would require the department to implement an MTM reimbursement methodology relating to the use of drugs to ensure that Medi-Cal payments are only made to eligible advanced practice pharmacists or pharmacies for MTM pharmacist services provided in conjunction with certain specialty drug therapy categories. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or disability insurer that offers coverage for pharmacist services to pay or reimburse the cost of the service performed by a pharmacist at an in-network pharmacy or a pharmacist at an out-of-network pharmacy if the insurer has an out-of-network pharmacy benefit. Existing law authorizes this payment or reimbursement when specified conditions are met, including that the coverage otherwise provides reimbursement for identical services performed by other licensed health care providers. This bill would additionally require those health care service plans and disability insurers to pay or reimburse the cost of the service performed by an advanced practice pharmacist enrolled as a provider with the plan or insurer. The bill would authorize payment or reimbursement if the coverage otherwise provides reimbursement for similar services performed by other licensed health care providers, among other requirements. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires, on and after January 1, 2023, each student health center on a California State University or University of California campus to offer abortion by medication techniques, as specified. This bill would require a California State University campus, and would request a University of California campus, to provide adoption information to students in each location on campus where contraception and emergency contraception information is available, including when birth control and levonorgestrel are provided to students through the campus's student health center or pharmacy, as specified.
Existing law allows a person who was arrested or convicted of a nonviolent offense while they were a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence, to petition the court, under penalty of perjury, for vacatur relief. Existing law requires, to receive that relief, that the crime for which the person was arrested or convicted was a nonviolent offense and that the person establish, by clear and convincing evidence, that the arrest or conviction was the direct result of being a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence. Existing law authorizes the court to vacate the conviction if it concludes that the petitioner was a victim of one of those crimes at the time of the alleged commission of the offense, the arrest was a direct result of being a victim of that offense, and the vacatur is in the best interest of justice. This bill would allow that relief for a person arrested or convicted of any offense, except murder, as specified. Because this bill would authorize more petitions to be filed under penalty of perjury, by expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. If a court issues an order for a person who was arrested or convicted of an offense while they were a victim of intimate partner violence or sexual violence, existing law requires the court to order the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the offense, the Department of Justice, and any law enforcement agency that arrested the petitioner or participated in the arrest of the petitioner to seal their records of the arrest and the court order to seal and destroy the records within 3 years from the date of the arrest, or within one year after the court order is granted, whichever occurs later, and thereafter to destroy their records of the arrest and the court order to seal and destroy those records. This bill would require the court to also order any law enforcement agency that has taken action or maintains records related to or because of the offense, including, but not limited to, departments of probation, rehabilitation, corrections, and parole, to seal and destroy their records. The bill would require those agencies to seal their records of arrest, conviction, or adjudication and the court order to seal and destroy the records within one year from the date of arrest, or within 90 days after the court order is granted, whichever occurs later. The bill would require the agencies to destroy these records within one year of the date of the court order. By increasing duties on local law enforcement, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the Department of Justice to notify the petitioner and the petitioner's counsel that the department has complied with the order to seal the arrest records by the applicable deadline. Existing law creates an affirmative defense against a charge of a crime that the person was coerced to commit the offense as a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence at the time of the offense and when the person had reasonable fear of harm. Existing law prohibits this defense from being used with respect to a violent felony, as defined. This bill would allow that defense to be used with respect to a violent felony, except for murder, as specified. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
