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House amends pharmacy board law: expands membership, adds technician seat and Open Meetings notice
Summary
House Bill 123, a sunset and reform of the Alabama Board of Pharmacy, was amended on the floor to change appointment processes, expand the board from five to nine members (including a pharmacy technician seat), require geographic/diversity considerations and add an Open Meetings Act notice requirement. The House passed the measure as amended.
The Alabama House of Representatives on the floor debated and passed House Bill 123, a sunset and reform bill for the Alabama Board of Pharmacy.
Representative Underwood, sponsor of the sunset bill, said the substitute clarified the board's role and appointment process and reset the board's sunset date to October 2026. "In the substitute, we, we made some amendments to the way the, the board is appointed," Underwood said on the floor, describing expanded appointment lists and role-based nominations for different practitioner categories.
Underwood and others described specific changes in the substitute: the board would expand from five to nine members; appointment slots were allocated to specific categories (hospital pharmacist, chain pharmacist, independent pharmacist, specialty pharmacist, institutional pharmacist, academic pharmacist, at-large pharmacist, a registered pharmacy technician, and an at-large consumer). Underwood said the change was intended to "spread out who made the appointments and who was specific and what type of pharmacist would be represented" and to ensure a wider range of professional voices.
Members asked how the appointment process would ensure geographic and demographic representation. Underwood pointed to provisions in the substitute addressing makeup and encouraged coordination among appointing authorities. Representative Wilcox offered an amendment requiring the board's public meeting notices to comply with the Alabama Open Meetings Act; Wilcox called the amendment "friendly" and it was adopted. Underwood also said the substitute clarified the use of nondisciplinary administrative fines and aimed to avoid unduly burdening pharmacies.
The House adopted the committee substitute and subsequently passed the bill as amended. The transcript shows the substitute adoption recorded as 103 ayes and 0 nays; the Wilcox amendment to require Open Meetings Act public notices was adopted (103-0), and final passage was recorded and announced as passed (final tally recorded in transcript as 101 ayes, 0 nays). Sponsors and members described the changes as expanding representation on the board and adding a voice for registered pharmacy technicians.
The measure will return with the new composition and requirements to the governor or move to the Senate as required by the legislative process.
