BILL NUMBER: SB 472	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Corbett

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2007

   An act relating to pharmacy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 472, as introduced, Corbett. Prescription drugs: labeling
requirements.
    Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensing and
regulation of the practice of pharmacy by the California State Board
of Pharmacy in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law
prohibits a pharmacist from dispensing a prescription except in a
container that meets certain labeling requirements.
   This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to adopt a
standard format for the labeling of prescription drug containers
dispensed in the state, that would include regulations for the font
size of printed words on the label and the placement of information
of the prescription and would provide that translated prescription
drug labels should be made available to the patient if the patient's
primary language is not English.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Health care costs and spending in California are rising
dramatically and are expected to continue to increase.
   (b) In California, prescription drug spending totaled over $188
billion in 2004, a $14 billion dollar per year spending increase
since 1984.
   (c) Prescription drug cost continues to be among the most
significant cost factors in California's overall spending on health
care.
   (d) According to the Institution of Medicine of the National
Academies, medication errors are among the most common medical
errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year.
   (e) Up to one-half of all medications are taken incorrectly or
mixed with other medications that cause dangerous reactions that can
lead to injury and death.
   (f) Approximately 46 percent of American adults cannot understand
the label on their prescription medications.
   (g) Ninety percent of Medicare patients take medications for
chronic conditions and nearly one-half of them take five or more
different medications.
   (h) It is the intention of the Legislature to adopt a standard
format for the labeling of prescription drug containers dispensed in
the state. That would include regulations for the font size of
printed words on the label and the placement of information of the
prescription and would provide that translated prescription drug
labels should be made available to the patient if the patient's
primary language is not English.