BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 952 (Anderson) - Pharmacy technicians: licensure
requirements
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|Version: February 4, 2016 |Policy Vote: B., P. & E.D. 9 - |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 18, 2016 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 952 would expand the number of pharmacy technician
certification programs that could be recognized by the Board of
Pharmacy for licensing pharmacy technicians.
Fiscal
Impact: One-time costs of $75,000 for the Board of Pharmacy to
conduct an occupational analysis and adopt regulations (Pharmacy
Board Contingent Fund).
Background: Under current law, applicants for licensure as a pharmacy
technician must have a high-school diploma or general
educational development certificate and also meet one of four
requirements: possess an associate's degree in pharmacy
technology, have completed a course of training specified by the
Board of Pharmacy, have graduated from a school of pharmacy, or
SB 952 (Anderson) Page 1 of
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be certified by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board.
When the current licensing requirements were adopted, the
Pharmacy Technician Certification Board was the only national
certification program. Today, the National Healthcareer
Association also offers certification for pharmacy technicians.
Proposed Law:
SB 952 would expand the number of pharmacy technician
certification programs that could be recognized by the Board of
Pharmacy for licensing. The bill would strike from existing law
specific reference to the Pharmacy Technician Certification
Board and instead reference accredited certifying organizations
approved by the Board.
Staff
Comments: Current law requires Department of Consumer Affairs'
licensing board and bureau licensing exams to be evaluated using
an occupational analysis. The purpose of the occupational
analysis is to determine what knowledge and skills are required
for a licensed profession, to ensure that a licensing exam
fairly and accurately tests for those attributes. Currently,
there is no occupational analysis for pharmacy technicians. This
posed a problem for the Office of Professional Examination
Services within the Department of Consumer Affairs when it
attempted to assess the certification examinations offered by
the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board and the National
Healthcareer Association. The Department of Consumer Affairs
indicates that the Board of Pharmacy intends to perform an
occupational analysis in order to determine whether to recognize
additional certification exams.
Increasing the number of entities that are eligible to certify
prospective pharmacy technicians is not expected to
significantly increase the number of applicants for licensure in
the state.
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