Bill Text: CA AB968 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Contraceptives.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Engrossed) 2025-09-13 - Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Pérez. [AB968 Detail]
Download: California-2025-AB968-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
July 09, 2025 |
|
Amended
IN
Senate
June 09, 2025 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 07, 2025 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Boerner |
February 20, 2025 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Existing law prohibits a health care licentiate from obstructing a patient in obtaining a prescription drug or device that has been legally prescribed or ordered for that patient and requires a licentiate to dispense drugs and devices pursuant to a lawful order or prescription, except under specified circumstances. Existing law applies these provisions to emergency contraception drug therapy and self-administered hormonal contraceptives.
This bill would, instead, make those provisions applicable to emergency contraception drug therapy, over-the-counter contraceptives, and prescription-only contraceptives.
Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to furnish emergency contraception drug therapy and self-administered hormonal contraceptives in accordance with specified requirements, including notifying the patient’s primary care provider of the drug or device furnished to the patient or satisfying one of specified alternative requirements.
This bill would,
instead, authorize a pharmacist to furnish emergency contraception drug therapy, over-the-counter contraceptives, and prescription-only contraceptives pursuant to those provisions.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
(a)A licentiate shall not obstruct a patient in obtaining a prescription drug or device that has been legally prescribed or ordered for that patient. A violation of this section constitutes unprofessional conduct by the licentiate and shall subject the licentiate to disciplinary or administrative action by their licensing agency.
(b)Notwithstanding any other law, a licentiate shall dispense drugs and devices, as described in subdivision (a) of Section 4024, pursuant to a lawful order or prescription unless one of the following circumstances exists:
(1)Based solely on the licentiate’s professional training and judgment,
dispensing pursuant to the order or the prescription is contrary to law, or the licentiate determines that the prescribed drug or device would cause a harmful drug interaction or would otherwise adversely affect the patient’s medical condition.
(2)The prescription drug or device is not in stock. If an order, other than an order described in Section 4019, or prescription cannot be dispensed because the drug or device is not in stock, the licentiate shall take one of the following actions:
(A)Immediately notify the patient and arrange for the drug or device to be delivered to the site or directly to the patient in a timely manner.
(B)Promptly transfer the prescription to another pharmacy known to stock the prescription drug
or device that is near enough to the site from which the prescription or order is transferred, to ensure the patient has timely access to the drug or device.
(C)Return the prescription to the patient and refer the patient. The licentiate shall make a reasonable effort to refer the patient to a pharmacy that stocks the prescription drug or device that is near enough to the referring site to ensure that the patient has timely access to the drug or device.
(3)The licentiate refuses on ethical, moral, or religious grounds to dispense a drug or device pursuant to an order or prescription. A licentiate may decline to dispense a prescription drug or device on this basis only if the licentiate has previously notified their employer, in writing, of the drug or class of drugs to which
they object, and the licentiate’s employer can, without creating undue hardship, provide a reasonable accommodation of the licentiate’s objection. The licentiate’s employer shall establish protocols that ensure that the patient has timely access to the prescribed drug or device despite the licentiate’s refusal to dispense the prescription or order. For purposes of this section, “reasonable accommodation” and “undue hardship” shall have the same meaning as applied to those terms pursuant to subdivision (l) of Section 12940 of the Government Code.
(c)For the purposes of this section, “prescription drug or device” has the same meaning as the definition in Section 4022.
(d)This section applies to emergency contraception drug
therapy, over-the-counter contraceptives, and prescription-only contraceptives described in Section 4052.3.
(e)This section imposes no duty on a licentiate to dispense a drug or device pursuant to a prescription or order without payment for the drug or device, including payment directly by the patient or through a third-party payer accepted by the licentiate or payment of any required copayment by the patient.
(f)The notice to consumers required by Section 4122 shall include a statement that describes patients’ rights relative to the requirements of this section.
SEC. 2.SECTION 1.
Section 2242.2 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:2242.2.
Notwithstanding any other law, a physician and surgeon, a nurse practitioner acting within the scope of Section 2837.103 or 2837.104, a registered nurse acting in accordance with Section 2725.2, a certified nurse-midwife acting within the scope of Section 2746.51, a nurse practitioner acting within the scope of Section 2836.1, a physician assistant acting within the scope of Section 3502.1, and a pharmacist acting within the scope of Section 4052.3 may use a self-screening tool that will identify patient risk factors for the use of contraceptives by a patient, and, after an appropriate prior examination, prescribe, furnish, or dispense, as applicable, contraceptives to the patient. Blood pressure, weight, height, and patient health history may be self-reported using the self-screening tool that identifies patient risk factors.(a)Notwithstanding any other law, a pharmacist may do all of the following:
(1)Furnish a reasonable quantity of compounded drug product to a prescriber for office use by the prescriber.
(2)Transmit a valid prescription to another pharmacist.
(3)Administer drugs and biological products that have been ordered by a prescriber.
(4)Perform procedures or functions in a licensed health care facility as authorized by Section 4052.1.
(5)Perform procedures or functions as part of the care provided by a health care facility, a licensed home health agency, a licensed clinic in which there is physician oversight, a provider who contracts with a licensed health care service plan with regard to the care or services provided to the enrollees of that health care service plan, or a physician, as authorized by Section 4052.2.
(6)Perform procedures or functions as authorized by Section 4052.6.
(7)Manufacture, measure, fit to the patient, or sell and repair dangerous devices, or furnish instructions to the patient or the patient’s representative concerning the use of those devices.
(8)Provide consultation, training, and education to patients about drug therapy, disease management, and disease prevention.
(9)Provide professional information, including clinical or pharmacological information, advice, or consultation to other health care professionals, and participate in multidisciplinary review of patient progress, including appropriate access to medical records.
(10)Furnish the medications described in subparagraph (A) in accordance with subparagraph (B):
(A)(i)Emergency contraception drug therapy, over-the-counter contraceptives, and prescription-only contraceptives, as authorized by Section 4052.3.
(ii)Nicotine replacement products, as authorized by Section 4052.9.
(iii)Prescription medications not requiring a diagnosis that are recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for individuals traveling outside of the United States.
(iv)HIV preexposure prophylaxis, as authorized by Section 4052.02.
(v)HIV postexposure prophylaxis, as authorized by Section 4052.03.
(B)The pharmacist shall notify the patient’s primary care provider of any drugs or devices furnished to the patient, or enter the appropriate information in a patient record system shared with the primary care provider, as permitted by that primary care provider. If the patient does not have a primary care provider, the pharmacist shall provide the patient with a written record of the drugs or devices furnished and advise the patient to consult a physician of the patient’s choice.
(11)Administer immunizations pursuant to a protocol with a prescriber.
(12)Order and interpret tests for the purpose of monitoring and managing the efficacy and toxicity of drug therapies. A pharmacist who orders and interprets tests pursuant to this paragraph shall ensure that the ordering of those tests is done in coordination with the patient’s primary care provider or diagnosing prescriber, as appropriate, including promptly transmitting written notification to the patient’s diagnosing prescriber or entering the appropriate information in a patient record system shared with the prescriber, when available and as permitted by that prescriber.
(13)Initiate, adjust, or discontinue drug therapy for a patient under a collaborative practice agreement with any health care provider with prescriptive authority. The collaborative practice agreement may be between a single or multiple pharmacists and a single or multiple health care providers with prescriptive authority.
(14)Provide medication-assisted treatment pursuant to a state protocol, to the extent authorized by federal law.
(b)A pharmacist who is authorized to issue an order to initiate or adjust a controlled substance therapy pursuant to this section shall
personally register with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
(c)This section does not affect the applicable requirements of law relating to either of the following:
(1)Maintaining the confidentiality of medical records.
(2)The licensing of a health care facility.
SEC. 4.SEC. 2.
Section 4052.3 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:4052.3.
(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, a pharmacist may furnish(c)Notwithstanding any other law, a pharmacist may furnish over-the-counter contraceptives without the standardized procedures or protocols that subdivision (a) requires for prescription-only contraceptives.
(d)
