BILL NUMBER: AB 679ENROLLED BILL TEXT PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2015 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2015 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 18, 2015 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2015 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Travis Allen FEBRUARY 25, 2015 An act to amend Section 11165.1 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to controlled substances, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 679, Travis Allen. Controlled substances. Existing law classifies certain controlled substances into designated schedules. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) for the electronic monitoring of the prescribing and dispensing of Schedule II, Schedule III, and Schedule IV controlled substances by all practitioners authorized to prescribe or dispense these controlled substances. Existing law authorizes the Department of Justice to provide the history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual to a licensed health care practitioner, pharmacist, or both, providing care or services to the individual. By January 1, 2016, or upon licensure in the case of a pharmacist, or upon receipt of a federal Drug Enforcement Administration registration in the case of another health care practitioner authorized to prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense controlled substances, whichever respective event occurs later, existing law requires those persons to apply to the Department of Justice to obtain approval to access information contained in the CURES database regarding the controlled substance history of a patient under his or her care. This bill would extend those January 1, 2016, deadlines to July 1, 2016. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 11165.1 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 11165.1. (a) (1) (A) (i) A health care practitioner authorized to prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substances pursuant to Section 11150 shall, before July 1, 2016, or upon receipt of a federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration, whichever occurs later, submit an application developed by the Department of Justice to obtain approval to access information online regarding the controlled substance history of a patient that is stored on the Internet and maintained within the Department of Justice, and, upon approval, the department shall release to that practitioner the electronic history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual under his or her care based on data contained in the CURES Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). (ii) A pharmacist shall, before July 1, 2016, or upon licensure, whichever occurs later, submit an application developed by the Department of Justice to obtain approval to access information online regarding the controlled substance history of a patient that is stored on the Internet and maintained within the Department of Justice, and, upon approval, the department shall release to that pharmacist the electronic history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual under his or her care based on data contained in the CURES PDMP. (B) An application may be denied, or a subscriber may be suspended, for reasons which include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) Materially falsifying an application for a subscriber. (ii) Failure to maintain effective controls for access to the patient activity report. (iii) Suspended or revoked federal DEA registration. (iv) Any subscriber who is arrested for a violation of law governing controlled substances or any other law for which the possession or use of a controlled substance is an element of the crime. (v) Any subscriber accessing information for any other reason than caring for his or her patients. (C) Any authorized subscriber shall notify the Department of Justice within 30 days of any changes to the subscriber account. (2) A health care practitioner authorized to prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substances pursuant to Section 11150 or a pharmacist shall be deemed to have complied with paragraph (1) if the licensed health care practitioner or pharmacist has been approved to access the CURES database through the process developed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 209 of the Business and Professions Code. (b) Any request for, or release of, a controlled substance history pursuant to this section shall be made in accordance with guidelines developed by the Department of Justice. (c) In order to prevent the inappropriate, improper, or illegal use of Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substances, the Department of Justice may initiate the referral of the history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual based on data contained in CURES to licensed health care practitioners, pharmacists, or both, providing care or services to the individual. (d) The history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual based on data contained in CURES that is received by a practitioner or pharmacist from the Department of Justice pursuant to this section shall be considered medical information subject to the provisions of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act contained in Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 56) of Division 1 of the Civil Code. (e) Information concerning a patient's controlled substance history provided to a prescriber or pharmacist pursuant to this section shall include prescriptions for controlled substances listed in Sections 1308.12, 1308.13, and 1308.14 of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to ensure that health care practitioners and pharmacists are not out of compliance with the requirement to apply to access data contained in the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System Prescription Drug Monitoring Program on January 1, 2016, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.