[Updated 10.22.21]
CPhA Sponsored Legislation
SB 362 (Newman) – Community Pharmacies: Quotas
This bill would prohibit a community pharmacy from establishing a quota, defined as a fixed number or formula related to the duties for which a pharmacist or pharmacy technician license is required, against which the community pharmacy or its agent measures or evaluates the pharmacist or pharmacy technician’s performance of those duties in the community pharmacy. The bill would also prohibit a community pharmacy, through employees, contractors, or third parties, from communicating the existence of quotas to pharmacists or pharmacy technicians who are its employees or with whom it contracts.
Status: Signed by the Governor
AB 671 (Wood) – Medi-Cal: Pharmacy Benefits
This bill would authorize the Department of Healthcare Services to provide a disease management or similar payment to a pharmacy that the department has contracted with to dispense a specialty drug to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in an amount necessary to ensure beneficiary access, as determined by the department based on the results of the survey completed during the 2020 calendar year.
Status: Assembly Inactive File
SB 524 (Skinner) – Patient Steering
This bill would prohibit patient steering and would allow California patients choose to their own pharmacies to ensure they receive quality care and are not steered to increase profit margins for PBMs.
Status: In Senate. Consideration of Governor’s veto pending.
AB 1064 (Fong) – Vaccinations
The bill would authorize pharmacists to administer all FDA approved vaccinations for California residents 3 years and older.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Additional Legislation
AB 32 (Aguiar-Curry) – Telehealth
Summary: AB 32 requires the State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to extend the telehealth flexibilities in place during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Additionally, AB 32 ensures patients will continue to have access to care by maintaining parity in reimbursement for telehealth services for Medi-Cal managed care plans. The bill also requires DHCS to complete an evaluation to assess the benefits of telehealth in Medi-Cal by December 2024, including an analysis of improved access for patients, changes in health quality outcomes and utilization, and best practices for the right mix of in-person visits and telehealth.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Senate – Health Committee
AB 62 (Gray) – Income taxes: credits: costs to comply with COVID-19 regulations
Summary: AB 62 provides small and essential businesses with an income tax credit for the costs of complying with the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: In Assembly Revenue and Taxation committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
AB 248 (Choi) – COVID Cleaning Supplies Tax Credit
Summary: AB 248 would create an income tax credit for business owners who purchase cleaning supplies needed to protect their employees and the public from COVID-19. Businesses are struggling with new costs caused by the global pandemic and need the state’s assistance with this unexpected expense.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: In Assembly Revenue and Taxation committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
AB 347 (Arambula) – Health Care Coverage: Step Therapy
Summary: This bill adds protections and transparency to current Utilization Management protocols to ensure patients have access to the treatments they need without delays that can worsen their medical condition.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Signed by the Governor
AB 369 (Kamlager)- Street Medicine Act: Bringing Care to the Street
Summary: This bill would require the Department of Health Care Services to implement a program of presumptive eligibility for individuals experiencing homelessness, under which an individual would receive full-scope Medi-Cal benefits without a share of cost.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Vetoed by the Governor
AB 457 (Santiago) – Telehealth Patient Bill of Rights
Summary: This bill would create the TeleHealth Patient Bill of Rights, which would, among other things, protect the rights of a patient using telehealth to been seen by a health care provider with a physical presence within a reasonable geographic distance from the patient’s home, unless specified exceptions apply. The bill would require a health plan, as defined, to comply with the requirements in the Telehealth Patient Bill of Rights and to provide written notice to patients of all their rights under the Telehealth Bill of Rights. The bill would also exempt a health care service plan or a health insurer from the existing telehealth payment parity provisions for any interaction where the health care provider is not located within a reasonable geographic distance of the patient’s home, unless that provider holds specialized knowledge not available in the patient’s region.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Signed by the Governor
AB 458 – (Kamlager) – California Affordable Drug Importation Act
Summary: This bill would create the Affordable Prescription Drug Importation Program in CHHSA, under which the state would be a licensed wholesaler that imports prescription drugs, as specified, for the exclusive purpose of dispensing those drugs to state residents with a valid prescription. The bill would require CHHSA to seek federal approval for the importation program on or before June 1, 2022, and would require CHHSA to contract with at least one vendor to provide services under the importation program within 6 months of receiving federal approval. The bill would require a vendor to, among other things, establish a wholesale prescription drug importation list that identifies the prescription drugs that have the highest potential for cost savings to the state and identify and contract with eligible Canadian suppliers who have agreed to export prescription drugs on that list.
This bill would authorize an individual to import a prescription drug only for use by that individual or a member of that individual’s immediate family from a foreign pharmacy if specified requirements are met. The bill would prohibit an individual from, among other things, importing a prescription drug for resale or a controlled substance.
CPhA Position: Oppose
Status: Assembly Health
AB 521 (Mathis) – Medi-Cal: Unrecovered Payments: Interest Rate
Summary: In the case of an assessment against any unrecovered overpayment due to the Department of Healthcare Services, this bill would authorize the director to waive any or all of the interest or penalties owed as part of a repayment agreement entered into with the provider for up to 12 months, or 24 months for a large clinic, as defined, if the director determines that specified factors apply, including a demonstration that imposing the interest or penalties would have a high likelihood of creating a financial hardship for the provider or a significant danger of reducing the provision of needed health care services, a finding that the overpayment is due to a change in rate for a particular service that is not the fault of the provider, or for any situation in which the department recoups an overpayment pursuant to an audit or examination for specified reasons, and the first statement of account status or demand for repayment is issued on or after July, 1, 2020.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Assembly Appropriations
AB 646 (Low) – Department Of Consumer Affairs: Boards: Expunged Convictions
Summary: This bill would require a board within the Department of Consumer Affairs that has posted on its internet website that a person’s license was revoked because the person was convicted of a crime, within 90 days of receiving an expungement order for the underlying offense from the person the posting on its internet website that the person’s license was revoked and information previously posted regarding arrests, charges, and convictions.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Assembly Appropriations
AB 752 (Nazarian) – Prescription Drug Coverage
Summary: This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer, or an entity acting on its behalf, to furnish specified information about a prescription drug upon request by an enrollee or insured, their health care provider, or a third party acting on their behalf. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from restricting a health care provider from sharing the information furnished about the prescription drug or penalizing a provider for prescribing a lower cost drug.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Assembly Appropriations
AB 933 (Daly) – Prescription Drug Cost Sharing
Summary: This bill would require an enrollee’s or insured’s defined cost sharing for each prescription drug to be calculated at the point of sale based on a price that is reduced by an amount equal to 90% of all rebates received, or to be received, in connection with the dispensing or administration of the drug. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan, health insurer, or a plan’s or insurer’s agents from publishing or otherwise revealing information regarding the actual amount of rebates the health care service plan or health insurer receives on a product-specific, manufacturer-specific, or pharmacy-specific basis.
CPhA Position: Support if Amended
Status: Assembly Health
AB 1178 (Irwin) Medi-Cal: Serious Mental Illness Drugs
Summary: This bill seeks to improve access to antipsychotic medications for Medi-Cal patients who have a SMI by: Removing the prior authorization requirement for 180 days after the initial prescription is approved and allowing automatic approval of prior authorization if the antipsychotic medication was dispensed in the prior year to a person over 18 years of age and is not under the transition jurisdiction of the juvenile court; Allowing a 90-day supply of medication for treatment of SMI if the person is over age 18, who is not under the transition jurisdiction of the juvenile court, has met prior authorization, step therapy or fail first requirements, and has filled a 30-day supply of the prescription in the previous 90 days; and, Allowing a pharmacist to dispense an early refill for lost or stolen antipsychotic medication and for an early refill of prescriptions with less than seven days of remaining therapy.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Assembly Appropriations
AB 1328 (Irwin) – Clinical Laboratory Technology And Pharmacists
Summary: This bill would revise and expand the types of persons that may perform CLIA-waived tests, including pharmacists and intern pharmacists if the results of the tests can be lawfully utilized within their practice. It would also expand the procedures or functions that a pharmacist may perform as part of the care provided by certain facilities or persons, including by authorizing a pharmacist to order or perform patient assessment procedures. The bill would revise the requirements relating to the policies, procedures, or protocols by requiring that the procedures to be performed by the pharmacist relate to a condition for which the patient has first been seen by a diagnosing or treating prescriber.
Additionally, the bill would remove from the definition of routine patient assessment procedures a procedure that a patient could, with or without a prescription, perform for themselves.
CPhA Position: Watch
Status: Senate – Appropriations Committee – Held under submission
AB 1430 (Arambula) – Pharmacy: Dispensing: Controlled Substances
Summary: This bill, would require a pharmacist who dispenses in solid oral dosage form, a controlled substance in Schedule II or Schedule IIN to dispense it in a lockable vial provide an educational pamphlet on controlled substances, and, if the lockable vial uses an alphanumeric passcode or other code, include the code in any patient notes in the database or other system used by the pharmacy in the dispensing of prescription drugs.
The bill would require the board to develop the educational pamphlet and provide it to pharmacists in printed form. The bill would require the manufacturer of a controlled substance to reimburse the pharmacy each month for the cost of lockable vials used by the pharmacy to dispense controlled substances within 30 days of receiving a claim for reimbursement, and would require the manufacturer to pay, among other costs, the net acquisition cost of the lockable vials and dispensing costs.
CPhA Position: Oppose
Status: Assembly Appropriations – Held under submission
AB 1533 (Committee on Business Professions & Economic Development): Pharmacy
Summary: This bill renews the sunset date of the Board of Pharmacy (Board) and make other various statutory updates affecting the practice of pharmacy, including:
- Expanding the authority of a pharmacist to provide any medication-assisted treatment as long as the treatment is authorized by federal law.
- Makes a number of changes to address violations of pharmacy law by chain community pharmacies operating under common ownership and increased penalties the BOP may impose to $100,000 for three or more repeated violations, or a maximum of $150,000 for violations demonstrated to be the result of a written policy or which was expressly encouraged by the common owner or manager.
- Requires the BOP to convene a workgroup discuss whether moving to a standard of care enforcement model would be feasible and appropriate for the regulation of pharmacy and make recommendations to the Legislature about the outcome of these discussions through a report submitted to the Legislature
- Requires that at least one of the professional members of the BOP to be a compounding pharmacist.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 306 (Pan) – Sexually Transmitted Disease: Testing
Summary: Requires a health care provider to include expedited partner therapy or EPT on a prescription if the practitioner is unable to obtain the name of a patient’s sexual partner, and would authorize a pharmacist to dispense an expedited partner therapy prescription and label the drug without an individual’s name if the prescription includes expedited partner therapy or EPT.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 310 (Rubio): Cancer Medication Access: Recycling Program
Summary: SB 310 will create a cancer medication donation and redistribution program that will allow cancer patients to donate their unused oral anti-cancer medications to patients in need. The program will be coordinated by the prescribing physician and regulated by the California Medical Board. Physicians will be required to register with the Medical Board.
CPhA Position: Support if Amended
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 409 (Caballero) – Pharmacy Practice: SARS-Cov-2 And Influenza Testing
Summary: This bill would authorize a pharmacist or a pharmacy to perform any aspect of any FDA-approved or authorized point-of-care test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 or influenza that is classified as waived under CLIA. The bill would also make conforming changes in provisions related to clinical laboratories to authorize that testing and include pharmacist-in-charge, as specified, in the definition of a laboratory director.
CPhA Position: Support if Amended
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 510 (Pan) – Health Care Coverage: COVID-19 Cost Sharing
Summary: Would require a health care service plan contract or a disability insurance policy that provides coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical benefits, to cover the costs for health care services related to the testing for COVID-19, or a future pandemic disease when declared a public health emergency by the Governor of the State of California, and would prohibit that contract or policy from imposing cost sharing or prior authorization requirements for that coverage. The bill would also require a contract or policy to cover without cost sharing or prior authorization an item, service, or immunization intended to prevent or mitigate COVID-19, or a future pandemic disease when declared a public health emergency by the Governor of the State of California, that is recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force or the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as specified. The bill would only extend the prohibition on cost sharing for COVID-19 testing, or an item, service, or immunization intended to prevent or mitigate COVID-19, with respect to an out-of-network provider for the duration of the federal public health emergency.
CPhA Position: Support if Amended
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 535 (Limon) – Biomarker Testing
Summary: This bill prohibits prior authorization for biomarker testing for patients with advanced and metastatic stage 3 and 4 cancer. Prior authorization is required for both the biomarker test, which indicates if there is a specific actionable biomarker present, and also required for the targeted therapy that matches to the biomarker.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 568 (Pan) – Deductibles: Chronic Disease Management
Summary: Lowers out-of-pocket costs for consumers by requiring that certain medicines and benefits used to treat chronic disease be covered without subjecting patients to a deductible.
Requires health plan contracts/health insurance policies to eliminate the deductible for outpatient prescription drugs and some covered benefits that are used to treat chronic conditions.
The bill also makes changes to high deductible health plans by allowing prescription drugs and other services identified by the IRS to be covered prior to a patient meeting the deductible.
CPhA Position: Support
Status: Assembly – Health Committee
