NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8115A
SPONSOR: Solages TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to allowing pharmacy
technicians to practice in any pharmacy under the supervision of a phar-
macist
PURPOSE:
To remove the current limitation on the use of pharmacy technicians in
pharmacies across New York, in order to support independent pharmacies.
SUMMARY:
Section 1. Amends subdivision 1 of section 6841 of the education law, as
added by chapter 414 of the laws of 2019.
Section 2. Sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Pharmacy technicians are essential to the effective and safe adminis-
tration of pharmacies throughout the State. They are trained to safely
and competently perform a number of tasks in the retail pharmacy
setting. This bill will allow pharmacy technicians to perform compound-
ing, preparing, labeling, and dispensing of drugs in retail pharmacy
settings. This bill also removes the requirement for pharmacy techni-
cians to have a supervisor in the "immediate" area while they perform
their duties.
RACIAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
TBD.
GENDER JUSTICE IMPACT:
TBD.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022: A10350; referred to higher education.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8115--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
October 13, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES, McDONALD -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Higher Education -- recommitted to the Committee on
Higher Education in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to allowing pharmacy
technicians to practice in any pharmacy under the supervision of a
pharmacist
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 6841 of the education law, as
2 added by chapter 414 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
3 1. A registered pharmacy technician may, under the direct personal
4 supervision of a licensed pharmacist, assist such licensed pharmacist,
5 as directed, in compounding, preparing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs
6 used to fill valid prescriptions or medication orders or in compounding,
7 preparing, and labeling in anticipation of a valid prescription or medi-
8 cation order for a patient to be served by the facility, in accordance
9 with article one hundred thirty-seven of this title where such tasks
10 require no professional judgment. Such professional judgment shall only
11 be exercised by a licensed pharmacist. A registered pharmacy technician
12 may only practice [in a facility licensed in accordance with article
13 twenty-eight of the public health law, or a pharmacy owned and operated
14 by such a facility,] under the direct personal supervision of a licensed
15 pharmacist employed in such a [facility or] pharmacy. Such [facility]
16 pharmacy shall be responsible for ensuring that the registered pharmacy
17 technician has received appropriate training to ensure competence before
18 he or she begins assisting a licensed pharmacist in compounding, prepar-
19 ing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs, in accordance with this article
20 and article one hundred thirty-seven of this title. For the purposes of
21 this article, direct personal supervision means supervision of proce-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02687-02-4
A. 8115--A 2
1 dures based on instructions given directly by a supervising licensed
2 pharmacist who remains in the [immediate] area where the procedures are
3 being performed, authorizes the procedures and evaluates the procedures
4 performed by the registered pharmacy technicians and a supervising
5 licensed pharmacist shall approve all work performed by the registered
6 pharmacy technician prior to the actual dispensing of any drug.
7 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
