NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A678A
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.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
TBD.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
2023-24: A8115; referred to high education
2022: A10350; referred to higher education.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS::
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
678--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES, HEVESI, SEAWRIGHT, LAVINE, BLUMENCRANZ,
RAMOS, WOERNER, JONES, McDONALD, PAULIN, OTIS, GRIFFIN, P. CARROLL,
McMAHON, KAY, BRONSON, CHLUDZINSKI, LUNSFORD -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Higher Education -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
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] pharmacy, in
9 accordance with article one hundred thirty-seven of this title where
10 such tasks require no professional judgment. Such professional judgment
11 shall only be exercised by a licensed pharmacist. A registered pharmacy
12 technician may only practice [in a facility licensed in accordance with
13 article twenty-eight of the public health law, or a pharmacy owned and
14 operated by such a facility,] under the direct personal supervision of a
15 licensed pharmacist employed in such a [facility or] pharmacy. Such
16 [facility] pharmacy shall be responsible for ensuring that the regis-
17 tered pharmacy technician has received appropriate training to ensure
18 competence before [he or she begins assisting] beginning to assist a
19 licensed pharmacist in compounding, preparing, labeling, or dispensing
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02176-02-5
A. 678--A 2
1 of drugs, in accordance with this article and article one hundred thir-
2 ty-seven of this title. For the purposes of this article, direct
3 personal supervision means supervision of procedures based on
4 instructions given directly by a supervising licensed pharmacist who
5 remains in the immediate area where the procedures are being performed,
6 authorizes the procedures and evaluates the procedures performed by the
7 registered pharmacy technicians and a supervising licensed pharmacist
8 shall approve all work performed by the registered pharmacy technician
9 prior to the actual dispensing of any drug.
10 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
