BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1071
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1071 (Emmerson) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009
Policy Committee: Business &
Professions Vote: 11-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill increases the minimum and maximum fees the California
State Board of Pharmacy (Board) may charge under its license and
fee schedule. This bill also establishes a cap of up to 30%
growth in licensure fees in future years.
FISCAL EFFECT
Annual increased fee-supported special fund revenue to the Board
of $614,000 to $1.8 million. This bill establishes new minimums
and maximums for the licensure-related fees charged by the
Board. As a result of these changes, the range of the Board's
fee-supported revenues will increase from $586,000 to $1.7
million (current law) to $1.2 million to $3.5 million (AB 1071).
The Board regulates 112,000 licensees and adds approximately
4,500 licensees per year. Fee revenues are used to support a
range of oversight activities.
This bill increases fees charged to various licensees of the
Board. For example, the current Pharmacist license application
fee is $115 to $150. This bill increases this fee to $150 to
$195. Under current law, the initial application fee for a
pharmacy is $340 to $400. This bill increases the pharmacy fee
to $400 to $520.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill is sponsored by the Board to adjust
application and renewal fees to ensure that the Board is
funded to fulfill regulatory and enforcement functions. In
recent years, the number of Board licensees has increased 20%,
AB 1071
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but the Board's funding and staffing has remained flat. The
last time the fee schedule was significantly updated was 1987.
This bill overhauls the fee schedule to account for increased
workload and costs in the past two decades.
2)Background . A recent independent fee audit of the Board was
conducted to determine the costs of processing applications
and license renewals. The audit found expenditures exceed
revenues and that the Board's contingent fund has been
reduced. In addition, auditors concluded the current fee
structure is insufficient to maintain 12 months of reserve
required by state law. In the absence of this bill, the
Boards contingent fund will be reduced to an eight-month
reserve by the end of fiscal year 2009-10 and will be only a
one-month reserve by the end of fiscal year 2011-12.
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081