BILL NUMBER: AB 2165	CHAPTERED  09/16/02

	CHAPTER  577
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 16, 2002
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 14, 2002
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 21, 2002
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 19, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 5, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 27, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 18, 2002
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 29, 2002
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 15, 2002
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2002

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Strom-Martin

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2002

   An act to  add Section 4001.5 to the Business and Professions
Code, relating to pharmacy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2165, Strom-Martin.  Pharmacy.
   Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and
regulation of pharmacies, pharmacists, and other associated persons
and entities by the California State Board of Pharmacy.  Existing law
establishes the Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee and
specifies its duties with respect to the review of various boards and
commissions.
   This bill would require the Joint Legislative Sunset Review
Committee to review the state's shortage of pharmacists and make
recommendations on a course of action to alleviate the shortage.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
   (a) The United States Department of Health and Human Services has
found a nationwide shortage of pharmacists that is attributable to
the increasing demand for pharmacists and a restricted supply.  This
shortage is linked to both the increasing prescription volume and the
increasing demand for pharmacists to provide clinical care in
hospitals and other care settings and is likely to persist for the
foreseeable future.
   (b) California has significantly fewer pharmacists per capita than
the national average and the annual growth rate in the number of
pharmacists is expected to be 1.4 percent per year between 2000 and
2010.
   (c) The volume of prescriptions filled nationally is expected to
double between 1999 and 2004.
   (d) Forty-nine of California's 58 counties are below the national
average in the ratio of pharmacists to the population, and the rural
and hard-to-serve urban areas are most affected by the pharmacist
shortage.
   (e) California is the only state in the nation and the United
States territories to administer its own pharmacist licensing
examination.
   (f) Other examinations may exist to provide alternatives to
increase the availability of pharmacists in California.
  SEC. 2.  Section 4001.5 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
   4001.5.  The Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee shall
review the state's shortage of pharmacists and make recommendations
on a course of action to alleviate the shortage, including, but not
limited to, a review of the current California pharmacist licensure
examination.