---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pharmacies: compounding."
description: "Under the Pharmacy Law, the California State Board of Pharmacy licenses and regulates the practice of pharmacy by pharmacists and pharmacy corporations in this state. That law prohibits a pharmacy from compounding sterile drug products unless the pharmacy has obtained a sterile compounding pharmacy license from the board. A violation of that law is a crime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 973"
citation: "California AB 973 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Pharmacies: compounding."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Irwin"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-02-21"
last_action: "2019-08-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3ccc6472-ca83-41ad-ac49-992c5135ef6a"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB973"
source_hash: "9e05904382e8403cc065dc993e0cd6e35991068ecd5b84601b06d8cde70b1898"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 973 (20192020) — Pharmacies: compounding.

Under the Pharmacy Law, the California State Board of Pharmacy licenses and regulates the practice of pharmacy by pharmacists and pharmacy corporations in this state. That law prohibits a pharmacy from compounding sterile drug products unless the pharmacy has obtained a sterile compounding pharmacy license from the board. A violation of that law is a crime.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/21/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB973&version=20190AB97399INT)
2. **05/13/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB973&version=20190AB97398AMD)
3. **08/30/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB973&version=20190AB97396CHP)
4. **AB973** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB973)
5. **08/13/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB973&version=20190AB97397ENR)

## Votes

- AB 973 Irwin Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB973 Irwin By Hill — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 973 Irwin Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Irwin — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-02-21** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-22** From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
- **2019-03-04** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (March 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-04-11** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1362.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-25** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-08** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-06-03** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-24** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-06-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-07-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2050.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-07-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 9 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-08-12** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 2660.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-08-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-08-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-08-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 184, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3ccc6472-ca83-41ad-ac49-992c5135ef6a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).