--- type: "Bill" title: "Pharmacy." description: "(1) The Pharmacy Law provides for the licensing and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy in the Department of Consumer Affairs. That law authorizes a pharmacy technician trainee to be placed in a pharmacy to complete an externship for the purpose of obtaining practical training required to become licensed as a pharmacist. That law prohibits the externship from being for a period of more than 120 hours, except if a pharmacy technician trainee's externship involves the rotation between a community pharmacy and a hospital pharmacy, in which case the externship is authorized to be for a period of up to 320 hours. That law prohibits more than 120 hours of the 320 hours from being completed in a community pharmacy setting or in a single department in a hospital pharmacy." jurisdiction: "us/states/ca" legislature: "California Legislature" session: "20192020" identifier: "SB 655" citation: "California SB 655 (20192020)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Pharmacy."] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Roth"] version_count: 6 action_count: 26 vote_count: 7 first_action: "2019-02-22" last_action: "2019-08-30" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6eed2c72-6b0a-4f46-81c8-7fdbe1eeaf98" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB655" source_hash: "60e94e90c1ec8bf4339ca5bd65ac48246e247217c0b83e9105b507fa298f526f" 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 SB 655 (20192020) — Pharmacy. (1) The Pharmacy Law provides for the licensing and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy in the Department of Consumer Affairs. That law authorizes a pharmacy technician trainee to be placed in a pharmacy to complete an externship for the purpose of obtaining practical training required to become licensed as a pharmacist. That law prohibits the externship from being for a period of more than 120 hours, except if a pharmacy technician trainee's externship involves the rotation between a community pharmacy and a hospital pharmacy, in which case the externship is authorized to be for a period of up to 320 hours. That law prohibits more than 120 hours of the 320 hours from being completed in a community pharmacy setting or in a single department in a hospital pharmacy. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **02/22/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB655&version=20190SB65599INT) 2. **03/27/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB655&version=20190SB65598AMD) 3. **04/11/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB655&version=20190SB65597AMD) 4. **08/30/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB655&version=20190SB65595CHP) 5. **SB655** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB655) 6. **08/16/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB655&version=20190SB65596ENR) ## Votes - Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper - Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower - Placed on suspense file — **5–0** (pass) · upper - SB 655 Roth Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower - 3rd Reading — **38–0** (pass) · upper - Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **19–0** (pass) · lower - Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · upper ## Sponsors - Roth — primary (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2019-02-22** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction` - **2019-02-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27. - **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1` - **2019-03-14** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee` - **2019-03-19** Set for hearing April 8. - **2019-03-27** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee` - **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 599.) (April 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage` - **2019-04-11** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee` - **2019-04-18** Set for hearing April 29. - **2019-04-23** April 29 hearing postponed by committee. - **2019-04-26** Set for hearing May 6. - **2019-05-06** May 6 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file. - **2019-05-10** Set for hearing May 16. - **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 1106.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage` - **2019-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2019-05-28** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1322.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1` - **2019-05-28** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1` - **2019-06-06** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee` - **2019-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 19. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee` - **2019-07-10** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (July 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage` - **2019-07-11** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2019-08-15** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 2729.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1` - **2019-08-15** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. - **2019-08-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m. - **2019-08-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2019-08-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 213, Statutes of 2019. ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6eed2c72-6b0a-4f46-81c8-7fdbe1eeaf98`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).