How to Renew Your Pharmacist License in California

To renew your pharmacist license in California, submit the Board of Pharmacy’s online renewal by the last day of your birth month every two years, after completing 30 hours of approved continuing education, and pay the $480 active-license fee. The online system opens 60 days before your expiration date, and your license stays valid while a timely renewal is being processed.¹

When Your License Expires

Pharmacist licenses run on a two-year cycle keyed to your birth month. The expiration date is the last day of that month, so the deadline is predictable years in advance. You can begin the renewal 60 days out; fees mailed in earlier than that will be returned.²

At renewal you choose active or inactive status. Active lets you practice. Inactive keeps the credential on file but bars you from practicing, and skips the continuing education requirement — though you will have to complete CE before reactivating later.³

Continuing Education You Need

Active renewal requires 30 hours of CE completed during the two-year period. Every hour has to come from a provider accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) or the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA).³

Three of the 30 hours are fixed:

One hour of law, taken through the Board’s law webinar.
One hour of ethics, taken through the Board’s ethics webinar.
One hour of cultural competency, taken from any ACPE- or CPhA-accredited provider (the Board does not offer this course).

You must view the law and ethics webinars separately to get credit for each.⁴ The remaining 27 hours are elective, on any pharmacy-related subject from an approved provider.⁵

If you hold an Advanced Practice Pharmacist (APh) designation, you owe an additional 10 hours of CE per cycle, for 40 total. Those extra hours must relate to your clinical practice area.⁶

You do not send certificates with your renewal, but keep them. The Board can audit you, and you must be able to produce every certificate of completion for four years after you finished the course.⁷ If you can’t produce documentation when asked, the Board will cancel your active license and issue you an inactive one.⁸

Background Check and Disclosures

Under California Code of Regulations section 1702, any pharmacist whose fingerprints are not already on file with the Department of Justice must complete a state and federal criminal background check by the renewal date. You pay for the fingerprinting and must keep the receipt for at least three years.⁹

The renewal form also asks you to disclose, under penalty of perjury, any criminal convictions since your last renewal (traffic infractions not involving alcohol or controlled substances are excluded) and any disciplinary action taken against any license you hold by any government agency. Skip a disclosure or leave the background check incomplete and the Board will not renew you as active. It will issue an inactive license instead, and you will have to satisfy every outstanding requirement before it goes back to active.⁹

What You Pay

The active biennial renewal fee is $480. That is a $450 base renewal fee plus a $30 assessment for the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES).¹⁰ The $450 base is set in California Code of Regulations section 1749.¹¹

An inactive renewal is $450. The CURES assessment applies to pharmacists who are practicing and using the prescription drug monitoring database.

Submitting the Renewal

The Board processes renewals through its online licensing system. The application asks you to electronically affirm that you have completed all 30 hours of CE (including the mandatory law, ethics, and cultural competency hours), that any required background check is done, and that you have made the criminal and disciplinary disclosures.

Once you submit and pay, you’ll get a confirmation. Processing can take several weeks, but your license remains valid while a timely renewal is pending — meaning you submitted the application and paid before the expiration date.¹

If you can’t renew online (for example, because your license has been expired for more than two years), the Board requires a paper application mailed in with a check or money order.²

If You Miss the Deadline

You can still renew for up to three years after expiration, but you cannot practice while the license is expired, and the price goes up. A $150 delinquency penalty is added to the standard fees, so a late active renewal comes to $630 ($450 base + $150 penalty + $30 CURES).¹¹ You still have to have completed all of the CE for the renewal period before the Board will process a delinquent application.

After three years past expiration with no renewal, the license is canceled by operation of law. There is no reinstatement. You would have to apply as a new candidate, meet every current licensure requirement, and pass the licensing examination again, and the Board may impose conditions on any license it later issues.¹²

A cancellation also travels. State boards of pharmacy report disciplinary actions to the NABP Clearinghouse, so any other state where you hold a license will be notified of the California action.¹³

1
California State Board of Pharmacy. Personal License Information
2
California State Board of Pharmacy. Renewal Application of a California Pharmacist License
3
California State Board of Pharmacy. Continuing Education Information
4
California State Board of Pharmacy. Law and Ethics Webinar
5
California State Board of Pharmacy. Continuing Education FAQs – Pharmacists and Advanced Pharmacist Practitioners
6
California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 4233
7
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 16 1732.5 – Renewal Requirements for Pharmacists
8
California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 4231 – Continuing Education
9
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 16 1702 – Pharmacist Renewal Requirements
10
California State Board of Pharmacy. California State Board of Pharmacy – Fee Schedule
11
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 16 1749 – Fee Schedule
12
Justia Law. California Business and Professions Code 4400-4409
13
National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Clearinghouse and NPDB Reporting