BILL NUMBER: SB 590	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Stone

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to amend Section 4209 of the Business and Professions Code,
relating to pharmacy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 590, as introduced, Stone. Pharmacy: intern pharmacists.
   Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, establishes the California State
Board of Pharmacy within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets
forth its powers and duties over the licensing and regulation of the
practice of pharmacies, pharmacists, intern pharmacists, and pharmacy
technicians. A knowing violation of these provisions is a crime.
   Existing law requires an intern pharmacist to complete 1,500 hours
of pharmacy practice or intern experience before applying for the
pharmacist licensure examination. Existing law authorizes an
applicant for examination who has been licensed as a pharmacist in
any state for at least one year to submit certification to satisfy
the required 1,500 hours or intern experience if that applicant has
obtained a minimum of 900 hours of pharmacy practice experience in a
pharmacy as a pharmacist.
   This bill would instead require, for all applicants, that 900
hours of the 1,500 required pharmacy practice experience include
experience in a pharmacy, including experience in both a community
and institutional pharmacy practice setting.
   Existing law requires the pharmacy practice to comply with the
Standards of Curriculum established by the Accreditation Council for
Pharmacy Education (ACPE) or with regulations adopted by the board.
Existing law requires an intern pharmacist to submit proof of his or
her experience under penalty of perjury.
   This bill would require that an applicant for the licensure
examination who has graduated after January 1, 2016, from an
ACPE-approved college of pharmacy or department of pharmacy of a
university recognized by the board, be deemed by the board to have
satisfied the 1,500 hours of pharmacy practice experience.
   By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would
create 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.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 4209 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   4209.  (a) (1) An intern pharmacist shall complete 1,500 hours of
pharmacy practice  experience  before applying for the
pharmacist licensure examination.
   (2) This pharmacy practice  experience  shall comply with
the Standards of Curriculum established by the Accreditation Council
for Pharmacy Education  (ACPE)  or with regulations adopted
by the board. 
   (3) This pharmacy practice experience shall include 900 hours of
pharmacy practice experience in a pharmacy as a pharmacist and shall
include pharmacy practice experience in both a community and
institutional pharmacy practice setting. 
   (b) An intern pharmacist shall submit proof of his or her 
pharmacy practice  experience on board-approved affidavits, or
another form specified by the board, which shall be certified under
penalty of perjury by a pharmacist under whose supervision 
such   the  experience was obtained or by the
pharmacist-in-charge at the pharmacy while the pharmacist intern
obtained the experience.  Intern hours  
Pharmacy practice experience  earned in another state may be
certified by the licensing agency of that state to document proof of
those hours.
   (c) An applicant for the examination who has been licensed as a
pharmacist in any state for at least one year, as certified by the
licensing agency of that state, may submit this certification to
satisfy the required 1,500 hours of  intern  
pharmacy practice  experience, provided that the applicant has
obtained a minimum of 900 hours of pharmacy practice experience in a
pharmacy as a  pharmacist.   pharmacist and has
  pharmacy practice experience in both a community and
institutional pharmacy practice setting.  Certification of an
applicant's licensure in another state shall be submitted in writing
and signed, under oath, by a duly authorized official of the state in
which the license is held. 
   (d) An applicant for the examination who has graduated after
January 1, 2016, from an ACPE-approved college of pharmacy or
department of pharmacy of a university recognized by the board shall
be deemed to have satisfied the 1,500 hours of pharmacy practice
experience. 
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
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