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  







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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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