Preserving Access to Rural Independent Pharmacies

Header text changed from 'REREVISED' to 'REVISED' with updated language indicating amendments were adopted on second reading in the Second House rather than all amendments adopted in the Second House.

New text was inserted between sections (d) and (f) of the findings, adding paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) that provide additional context about pharmacy benefit managers, services offered by rural pharmacies, and the consequences of pharmacy closures.

A new definition for 'RURAL INDEPENDENT PHARMACY' was added to the Colorado Revised Statutes, defining it as a privately owned prescription drug outlet with no ownership interest or affiliation with a chain pharmacy or publicly traded prescription drug outlet.

Header and sponsorship lists were updated to reflect all co-sponsors and indicate the bill has passed second reading in both houses.

Reading dates were updated to show the bill was amended on second reading in the Senate (April 22, 2025) and House (March 20, 2025).

Formatting was standardized to reflect the final amended version rather than the preliminary pre-amendment draft.

Removed final act language indicating the bill was prepared for signatures and Governor's action.

Added official session headers, committee markup notes, and page numbering typical of draft legislation.

Reorganized text layout from continuous paragraphs to numbered line-by-line format with line numbers for legislative tracking.

Added 27 new co-sponsors to the House sponsorship list, expanding bipartisan support for the bill.

Updated the header from 'Corrected Engrossed' to 'Reengrossed' to reflect the bill's new legislative status.

Added a date stamp (March 25, 2025) and '3rd Reading Unamended' label to the bill summary section.

The definition of 'rural independent pharmacy' was changed from requiring the pharmacy to be located in a county with fewer than 50,000 residents to simply being privately owned by a licensed pharmacist without chain or publicly traded ownership.

Sections were renumbered and reorganized, with the original findings and declarations moved to the beginning of the bill and statutory amendments consolidated into later sections.

The geographic population threshold (county with less than 50,000 residents) was removed from the definition of rural independent pharmacy.

New statutory language was added to prohibit PBMs from requiring rural independent pharmacies to obtain PBM consent before using private couriers or delivery services for prescription drug delivery.