Amended in Senate April 22, 2015

Senate Bill No. 590

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 amended, 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 begin delete or end delete begin insert of end insert 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 begin delete ACPE-approved end delete begin insert ACPE accredited end insert college of pharmacy or begin delete department end delete begin insert school end insert of pharmacy begin delete of a university end delete recognized by the board, be deemed by the board to have satisfied the begin delete 1,500 end delete begin insert required end insert hours of pharmacy practice begin delete experience. end delete begin insert experience, as specified. end insert

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 the
experience was obtained or by the pharmacist-in-charge at the
pharmacy while the pharmacist intern obtained the experience.
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 pharmacy practice experience,
provided that the applicant has obtained a minimum of 900 hours
of pharmacy practice experience in a pharmacy as a 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 begin delete ACPE-approved end delete begin insert ACPE accredited end insert college
of pharmacy or begin delete department end delete begin insert school end insert of pharmacy begin delete of a university end delete
recognized by the board shall be deemed to have satisfied the begin delete 1,500
hours of end delete pharmacy practice begin delete experience. end delete begin insert experience requirements
specified in subdivisions (a) and (b). end insert

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.