SB 1442, legislation sponsored by United Food & Commercial Workers Union that requires no pharmacist to be left alone in a store, was successfully amended recently. As amended, the bill will both refer to “community pharmacy” and include an itemization of exempted entities to make very clear which pharmacies must comply. Redrafted language regarding the bill’s core requirement will read that an employee must be “made available to assist the pharmacist at all times.” This redrafted language was negotiated to ensure that any employee in the store can assist the pharmacist, if needed, and not just a pharmacy technician or pharmacy clerk. The final language exempts the new requirements from the misdemeanor provisions without further specifying remedies, essentially retaining the Board of Pharmacy’s enforcement options while ensuring violations won’t constitute a new crime.
Also in California…AB 2789, legislation by Assemblymember Jim Wood (D) sponsored by the Board of Pharmacy that will require all prescriptions to be transmitted electronically by Saturday, January 1, 2022, was again amended in the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 3.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.