65-1631. Licensure required of pharmacists; qualification of applicants; application for licensure by examination; reciprocal licensure; fees; applicants from schools outside United States. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to practice as a pharmacist in this state unless such person is licensed by the board as a pharmacist. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d), every applicant for licensure as a pharmacist shall be at least 18 years of age, shall be a graduate of a school or college of pharmacy or department of a university recognized and approved by the board, shall file proof satisfactory to the board, substantiated by proper affidavits, of a minimum of one year of pharmaceutical experience, acceptable to the board, under the supervision of a preceptor and shall pass an examination approved by the board. Pharmaceutical experience as required in this section shall be under the supervision of a preceptor and shall be predominantly related to the dispensing of prescription medication, compounding prescriptions, preparing pharmaceutical preparations and keeping records and making reports required under state and federal statutes. A school or college of pharmacy or department of a university recognized and approved by the board under this subsection (a) shall have a standard of education not below that of the university of Kansas school of pharmacy. The board shall adopt rules and regulations establishing the criteria which a school or college of pharmacy or department of a university shall satisfy in meeting the standard of education established under this subsection (a).

(b) All applications for licensure by examination shall be made on a form to be prescribed and furnished by the board. Each application for a new license by examination shall be accompanied by a license fee fixed by the board as provided in K.S.A. 65-1645 and amendments thereto.

(c) The board is authorized to adopt rules and regulations relating to the grades which an applicant must receive in order to pass the examination.

(d) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, the board may in its discretion license as a pharmacist, without examination, any person who is duly registered or licensed by examination in some other state, except that the board may require that such person take the law examination approved by the board. Such person shall file proof satisfactory to the board of having the education and training required of applicants for licensure under the provisions of the pharmacy act of this state. Persons who are registered or licensed as pharmacists by examination in other states shall be required to satisfy only the requirements which existed in this state at the time they become registered or licensed in such other states. The provisions of this subsection shall apply only if the state in which the person is registered or licensed grants, under like conditions, reciprocal registrations or licenses as pharmacists, without examination, to pharmacists duly licensed by examination in this state. Reciprocal licensure shall not be denied to any applicant otherwise qualified for reciprocal licensure under this section who has met the internship requirements of the state from which the applicant is reciprocating or who has at least one year of practice as a licensed pharmacist. A reciprocal licensure may be denied for any of the reasons set forth in subsections (a)(1) through (a)(13) of K.S.A. 65-1627 and amendments thereto.

(e) In the event that an applicant for reciprocal licensure has not been subject to laws requiring continuing education as a condition for renewal of a registration or license, such applicant shall be required to satisfy the board through a competency examination that the applicant has the knowledge and ability to meet Kansas standards for licensure as a pharmacist.

(f) No applicant who has taken the examination for licensure approved by the board and has failed to complete it successfully shall be considered for licensure by reciprocity within one year from the date such applicant sat for the examination.

(g) All applicants for reciprocal licensure shall file their applications on a form to be prescribed and furnished by the board and such application shall be accompanied by a reciprocal licensure fee fixed by the board as provided in K.S.A. 65-1645 and amendments thereto. The reciprocal licensure fee established by this section immediately prior to the effective date of this act shall continue in effect until a different reciprocal licensure fee is fixed by the board by rules and regulations as provided in K.S.A. 65-1645 and amendments thereto.

(h) The board shall take into consideration any felony conviction of such person, but such conviction shall not automatically operate as a bar to licensure.

(i) All applicants for licensure who graduate from a school or college of pharmacy outside the United States or who graduate from a school or college of pharmacy not approved by the board shall submit information to the board, as specified by rules and regulations, and this information shall be accompanied by an evaluation fee fixed by the board as provided in K.S.A. 65-1645 and amendments thereto, which evaluation fee shall be in addition to any other fee paid by the applicant under the pharmacy act of the state of Kansas. The evaluation fee fixed by the board under this section immediately prior to the effective date of this act shall continue in effect until a different evaluation fee is fixed by the board by rules and regulations as provided in K.S.A. 65-1645 and amendments thereto. The board may contract with investigative agencies, commissions or consultants to assist the board in obtaining information about such schools or colleges of pharmacy. In entering such contracts the authority to approve schools or colleges of pharmacy shall remain solely with the board.

(j) All applicants for licensure who graduate from a school or college of pharmacy outside the United States or who are not citizens of the United States shall provide proof to the board that the applicant has a reasonable ability to communicate with the general public in English. The board may require such applicant to take the test of English as a foreign language and to attain the grade for passing such test as established by the board by rules and regulations.

(k) Every registered pharmacist holding a valid registration as a pharmacist in effect on the day preceding the effective date of this act shall be deemed to be a licensed pharmacist under this act, and such person shall not be required to file an original application hereunder for a license.

History: L. 1953, ch. 290, § 17; L. 1962, ch. 37, § 1; L. 1967, ch. 342, § 1; L. 1972, ch. 231, § 6; L. 1974, ch. 252, § 1; L. 1975, ch. 319, § 17; L. 1981, ch. 247, § 1; L. 1982, ch. 263, § 1; L. 1986, ch. 235, § 3; L. 1986, ch. 231, § 20; L. 1986, ch. 236, § 2; L. 1987, ch. 236, § 2; L. 1988, ch. 243, § 7; L. 1991, ch. 187, § 2; L. 1998, ch. 98, § 3; L. 2002, ch. 184, § 1; July 1.