Brief(1)
S.B. 507 amends five statutes that are a part of the Pharmacy Act of the State of Kansas to change the renewal of pharmacist's licenses from annual to biennial renewal, to add grounds for disciplinary action against a licensed pharmacist or a registered pharmacy, and to increase civil penalties that may be assessed under the Act.
Amendments in Section 1 of the bill add the voluntary surrender of a license after formal proceedings have been commenced in another state, country, or the District of Columbia to the grounds upon which the Board of Pharmacy may revoke, suspend, deny renewal, or place in probationary status the license of a pharmacist. The grounds for taking action against a pharmacy registration are broadened to include the registrant having a registration revoked, suspended, or limited by another jurisdiction or having been censured or had other disciplinary action taken or an application for registration denied by another jurisdiction. A reference to annual registration is stricken from the statute. Section 5 amends a statute that authorizes the Board of Pharmacy to assess civil penalties against licensees and registrants. The amendments increase the maximum civil penalty applicable to each violation of the pharmacy laws, Uniform Controlled Substances Act, and rules and regulations adopted under either act from $500 to $5,000.
Amendments to other statutes amended by S.B. 507 are related to changing from an annual to biennial renewal of pharmacist's licenses, including provisions authorizing the proration of fees and of continuing education hours and the authority for a license to expire in less than two years from the date of its issuance or renewal in order to facilitate the change to biennial license renewal. Amendments to the fee maximums contained in K.S.A. 65-1645 increase the maximum penalty fee for late renewal of a license to reflect the two-year renewal schedule authorized by the bill. The statutory maximum actual renewal fee is not changed. The bill also allows the Board of Pharmacy to require the examination fee for any examination under the Pharmacy Act of the State of Kansas to be paid directly to the examining service administering the examination by the person applying to take the examination.
S.B. 507 becomes effective upon publication in the Kansas Register.
Background
S.B. 507 was introduced at the request of the Board of Pharmacy whose representative indicated the Board currently licenses approximately 3,400 pharmacists. A change to biennial licensure would allow the Board to stagger the workload associated with license renewal.
The House Committee amendments relating to the direct payment of examination fees to the service that gives the examination, the American Council of Pharmaceutical Educators, was requested by the Board of Pharmacy as was the change in the effective date.
The fiscal note on S.B. 507 indicates the fiscal effect of the bill depends on whether the agency changes fees collected for license renewal. Any increase in receipts or decrease in expenditures that would occur in FY 1999 would be in addition to amounts included in The FY 1999 Governor's Budget Report.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.