BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1237|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1237
Author: Price (D)
Amended: 4/30/12
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMM. : 7-0, 4/23/12
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Hernandez,
Strickland, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Negrete McLeod, Vargas
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/24/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
SUBJECT : Professions: pharmacists and court reporter:
sunset dates
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill extends the sunset date of the
Pharmacy Board of California to January 1, 2017, extends
the sunset date for the Court Reporters Board to January 1,
2017, and makes other programmatic changes.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Licenses and regulates some 130,000 pharmacists by the
Pharmacy Board of California (Board) within the
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Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), establishes the
Board which consists of 13 members, seven pharmacists
and six public members. All seven professional members
and four public members are appointed by the Governor.
One public member of the Board is appointed by the
Senate Pro Tem and one public member is appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly. (Business and Professions Code
(BPC) � 4001)
2. Makes the Board inoperative and repealed on January 1,
2013, unless a statute is enacted to extend the Board.
(BPC � 4001)
3. Authorizes the Board to appoint an executive officer,
and makes that authority inoperative and repealed on
January 1, 2013. (BPC � 4003)
4. Provides that protection of the public shall be the
highest priority for the Board in exercising its
licensing, regulatory, and disciplinary functions, and
whenever the protection of the public is inconsistent
with other interests sought to be promoted, the
protection of the public shall be paramount. (BPC �
4001.1)
5. Licenses and regulates some 7,600 shorthand reporters by
the Court Reporters Board (CRB) within the DCA,
establishes the CRB which consists of five members,
three of whom are public members and two of whom are
holders of certificates as shorthand reporters. (BPC �
8000).
6. Established the CRB and makes it inoperative and
repealed on
January 1, 2013. (BPC � 8000)
7. Authorizes the CRB to appoint an executive officer, and
makes that authority inoperative and repealed on January
1, 2013. (BPC � 8005)
8. Provides that protection of the public shall be the
highest priority for the CRB in exercising its
licensing, regulatory, and disciplinary functions, and
whenever the protection of the public is inconsistent
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with other interests sought to be promoted, the
protection of the public shall be paramount. (BPC �
8005.1)
9. Authorizes the CRB to provide shorthand reporting
services to low income litigants in civil cases. The
Transcript Reimbursement Fund shall be repealed and
inoperative on January, 1, 2013. (BPC � 8030.2)
10.Authorizes the CRB to provide shorthand reporting
services to low income litigants in civil cases to
individuals who represent themselves. The Transcript
Reimbursement Fund for Pro Se Litigants shall be
repealed and inoperative on January, 1, 2013. (BPC �
8030.5)
This bill:
1. Extends the inoperative and repeal date for the Board to
January 1, 2017.
2. Extends the authority for the Board to appoint an
executive officer to January 1, 2017.
3. Extends the inoperative and repeal date of the CRB to
January 1, 2017.
4. Extends the authority for the CRB to appoint an
executive officer to January 1, 2017.
5. Extends the inoperative and repeal date for the CRB
Transcript Reimbursement Fund to January 1, 2017.
6. Extends the inoperative and repeal date for the CRB
Transcript Reimbursement Fund for Pro Se Litigants to
January 1, 2017.
7. Makes technical corrections and conforming changes.
Background
State Board of Pharmacy . The Board was created by the
California Legislature in 1891. The Board is responsible
for enforcing federal and state laws pertaining to the
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acquisition, storage, distribution and dispensing of
dangerous drugs; including controlled substances and
dangerous devices. The Board has approximately 130,000
licensees in 17 license categories that include both
personal and business licenses. As an agency that
regulates the individuals and businesses that dispense,
compound, provide, store and distribute prescription drugs
and devices and pharmaceutical services to the public, or
to other health care practitioners in compliance with state
and federal law, the licensing of pharmacists, pharmacies,
and pharmacy technicians is the primary focus of Board
activity, with consumer protection at the core of the
Board's operations. The Board's regulatory authority, as
described in the Pharmacy Law, extends over individuals and
firms located both within and outside California, if they
provide services into California.
The Board's vision, "Healthy Californians through quality
pharmacists care," helps guide Board activities and
initiatives. The Board ensures that only those who possess
specified requirements are licensed, seeks removal of
licenses for those who do not comply with laws or maintain
qualifications for licensure, investigates consumer
complaints as well as provides a focused effort to ensure
consumer education and awareness.
The Board is comprised of 13 members, seven pharmacists and
six public members. All seven professional members and
four public members are appointed by the Governor. One
public member of the Board is appointed by the Senate Pro
Tem and one public member is appointed by the Speaker of
the Assembly. Existing law requires that at least five of
the seven pharmacist appointees must be actively engaged in
the practice of pharmacy and the Board must include at
least one practicing pharmacist from each of the following
settings: an acute care hospital, an independent community
pharmacy, a chain community pharmacy, a pharmacist member
of a labor union that represents pharmacists, and a
long-term care or skilled nursing facility. The Board
meets about four times per year. All Committee meetings
are subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act.
The Board is a special fund agency, with funding coming
from licensing (87%), collected fines from citations (9%)
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and collected cost recovery (3%). Of the fee revenue
collected by the Board, 77% comes from renewals while 22%
comes from initial applications. The Board has continuous
renewal cycles for all of its license categories except for
intern licenses which are not renewable. The renewal cycle
is annual for facilities and designated representatives.
Licenses issued to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are
renewed biennially. The Board currently licenses close to
130,000 licensees.
Much of the Board's work is done in committees. Some
committees are standing committees, others are task force
or ad-hoc committees formed to examine a specific topic,
and then disbanded following completion of the task. The
Board also has one specialized standing committee, the
Competency Committee, which is responsible for developing
the California pharmacist licensing examination.
The Board's strategic plan establishes five standing
committees. Each committee typically meets quarterly prior
to each Board meeting and provides a report and minutes of
the committee meeting during each Board meeting. However,
during the past several years, to curtail travel expenses
and in response to staffing challenges created by
furloughs, the Board has reduced the number of committee
meetings each year.
The Competency Committee develops and grades the Board's
pharmacist licensure examination, the California Practice
Standards and Jurisprudence Examination for Pharmacists.
According to the Board, membership on this committee is
highly selective, professionally challenging, and
time-consuming. Members meet seven times annually in
two-day meetings. The Competency Committee is a
stand-alone committee within the auspices of the Board's
Licensing Committee; one Board member attends committee
meetings and provides updates on the status of the Board's
pharmacist examination during Board meetings. This Board
member also serves as a liaison to the committee.
In 2008, the Board raised all of its fees to the statutory
maximums via the regulation process. Following that, the
Board commissioned an independent fee audit to secure
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recommendations on a new fee schedule that would ensure the
financial viability of the Board for the next five years.
The audit found that the Board's expenditures were
exceeding its revenues and that its fee structure was
insufficient to maintain the required 12-month reserve. In
2009, the Board sponsored legislation (AB 1071, Emmerson,
Chapter 270, Statutes of 2009) to reset the statutory
minimum and maximum fee levels according the
recommendations in the audit. According to the Board, this
was the first time such legislation was needed since 1987.
The Board spends approximately 59% of its budget on its
enforcement program, 18% on its licensing program, 15% on
administration, 3% on its diversion program, and 4%
administering examinations.
Court Reporters Board . Established in 1951, the Certified
Shorthand Reporters Board, now known as the Court Reporters
Board, regulates the court reporting profession through
testing, licensing, and disciplining of court reporters.
In California, court reporters use the title certified
shorthand reporter (CSR), which is a designation restricted
by statute to those individuals who have a Board-issued
license.
In California, a person can be licensed to work as a court
reporter employed by state courts (official reporter) or to
act as a deposition officer (freelance reporter).
Freelance reporters can be hired as individual contractors
or can be hired by court reporting firms which, in turn,
are hired by law firms or lawyers to provide services in
depositions. The laws governing deposition/freelance
reporters can be found in the Code of Civil Procedure
Section 2025, et seq. As of January 1, 2012, there are
7,316 licensed CSRs in California.
According to the CRB, licensing of CSRs is critical to the
proper functioning of the courts. An accurate written
record of who said what in court is essential if the
outcome of judicial proceeding is to be accepted by the
litigants and the public as non-arbitrary, fair, and
credible. In criminal cases, for example, courts of appeal
rely exclusively upon written briefs and a written
transcript to adjudicate the lawfulness of what occurred at
trial. A conviction, and thus, in some instances the life
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or death of an accused, can stand or fall based entirely
upon what a witness said, what a lawyer said, what a juror
said, or what a judge said, as solely reflected in the
written transcript. In civil cases, millions of dollars,
life-long careers, and the fate of whole business'
enterprises can hinge on what was said or what was not said
in a deposition or at trial.
Moreover, as indicated by the CRB, the testimony in civil
and criminal cases is often thick with technical jargon. A
medical malpractice case, where experts from both sides
contradict one another, can involve complex technical
medical terminology; criminal cases can involve scientific
language related to DNA identification; anti-trust cases
can involve diction from economic theory, and so on. No
matter how obscure or technical, such jargon must be
accurate to-the-word and be reflected in the written
transcript. Court reporters are highly trained
professionals who transcribe the words spoken in a wide
variety of official legal settings such as court hearings,
trials, and other litigation and in related proceedings
such as depositions.
The CRB also has oversight of court reporting schools in
addition to having oversight over CSRs. Although CRB
"recognizes" schools, there is no statutory authority for
licensure. Even so, only court reporting schools
"recognized" by the CRB can certify students to qualify for
the CSR examination. The CRB can also issue citations, and
fine schools not in compliance with their rules. Also in
1972, the CRB's authority was expanded to give them the
ability to recognize court reporting schools and to set
minimum curriculum standards for court reporting programs.
Additional authorization to cite and fine schools was
passed by the Legislature in 2002 (BPC � 8027.5). The CRB
can discipline schools up to and including removing
recognition. There are currently 16 schools of court
reporting recognized by the CRB; eight public schools and
eight private schools. Since the last Sunset Review, one
school has closed.
Until the 1960s, the CRB allowed only CSRs to own and
operate companies offering court reporting services.
However, when no statutory authority supporting that
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prohibition could be found, the practice ceased, and in
1972, CRB began registering reporting corporations. That
process was rescinded by AB 2743 (Frazee, Chapter 1289,
Statutes of 1992) when the CRB decided that the
registration duplicated the filing required by the
Secretary of State's Office, provided no additional benefit
or consumer protection, and was an unnecessary expense for
businesses.
The CRB's average annual operating budget over the past
four years has been approximately $787,000. Of that, each
year by statute, $300,000 is assigned to the Transcript
Reimbursement Fund (TRF); a fund designated to reimburse
transcript costs incurred by indigent litigants. The
greatest expenditure for the CRB is its enforcement
program, which on average represents 38% of expenditures.
The second highest expenditure is the examination at 30% of
expenditures.
The CRB is funded almost completely by examination and
licensing fees collected from applicants and licensees.
License renewal is the CRB's largest source of revenue,
accounting for approximately 91% of the operating fund.
Another 3% comes from examination and license application
fees, and just under 3% is comprised of payments of
citations/fines. The remaining, just over 3%, is
miscellaneous revenue including delinquent fees and
investment income. The CRB receives no federal funding and
no revenue from the State's General Fund. There is no
statutory mandatory reserve level for the CRB.
The rates charged by freelance reporters and the businesses
that employ them are not fixed by statute. That was not
the case in the past but in a compromise package with the
profession, the Legislature and the Governor, eliminated
rate regulation in 1981 and created the TRF, a special fund
paid for by a portion of the court reporters' licensing
fees.
Prior to January 1, 1983, state courts had been allowed to
use noncertified reporters if they could demonstrate that a
certified reporter was not available. BPC Section 8016 now
requires all state court reporters to be licensed as CSRs.
Court reporters hired prior to 1983 can still maintain an
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exemption to the licensing requirement.
The CRB is composed of five members, two of whom are
licensed CSRs and three of whom are public members. The
Governor appoints, subject to Senate confirmation, the
two-licensed members and one public member. The Assembly
Speaker and the Senate Rules Committee each appoint a
public member.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Estimated annual cost of $1.23 million from the Pharmacy
Board Contingent Fund (1110-0767) based on the 2010-11
Budget Act, all costs offset by existing fees.
Estimated annual cost of $747,000 from the Court
Reporters Fund (1110-0771) based on the 2010-11 Budget
Act, all costs offset by existing fees.
Estimated annual cost of $176,000 from the Transcript
Reimbursement Fund (1110-0410) based on the 2010-11
Budget Act, all costs offset by existing fees.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/24/12)
California Retailers Association
California Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Court Reporters Board of California
California State Board of Pharmacy
Healthcare Distribution Management Association
JJA:mw 5/24/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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