A panel of Alabama lawmakers Thursday had a contentious meeting, the second in two years, with leadership of the Alabama Board of Pharmacy and said more legislation regarding the body that licenses thousands of pharmacists is expected in 2026.
The Legislative Sunset Committee also voted to end the authority of two other professional licensure boards and transfer the management of three to state agencies.
“We are reducing the size of government, we are reducing regulations and overregulation and we are reducing the amount of fees charged to small businesses,” committee member Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, told Alabama Daily News after the meeting. “We are cutting red tape and it is working.”
The committee regularly reauthorizes the authority and reviews the practices and finances of the dozens of separate state boards that license and assess fees and fines to thousands of Alabamians who are required under state law to be licensed, from doctors to electrical contractors to barbers and geologists.
Some of those boards license a few hundred people. The Alabama Board of Pharmacy licenses nearly 33,000 pharmacists, pharmacies and drug distributors.
Last year, a state audit found 14 significant issues with the board and sunset committee members told board officials to clean them up “post-haste.” Some of those issues included charging some licensees higher fees than what’s authorized by law and using “deferral agreements” to allow pending violations to be dropped if the licensees pay higher fines. Others include violations of open meeting laws and a switch in 2023 to reporting money collected from fees and fines as miscellaneous income.
Later in 2024, the board renewed its contract with executive secretary Donna Yeatman, and then earlier this year dismissed her. A move that included a $255,000 payout that Gov. Kay Ivey “reluctantly” signed off on.
A new audit from the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts released this week shows four significant issues, some related to the board’s meetings and record keeping of Yeatman’s dismissal and failure to comply with open meetings rules.
During the more than hour-long meeting Thursday, lawmakers questioned the board on a range of issues, including a lack of geographical diversity on the Auburn-centric body, its use of emergency orders and its legal counsel.
“A lot of the things the board as done, it’s like they’re not given any instruction and for them to have the number of attorneys they have and access to the (Alabama) Attorney General’s Office, but they continue to violate (meetings laws) … it’s an absolute mess,” ccommittee co-chair Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, told ADN after the meeting.
Kelley, who sponsored in the Senate a 2025 pharmacy board bill, said more legislation is likely next year.
Committee members noted the board has two contracts with attorneys, one for $239,000 per year and another for $31,000.
“That’s a lot of money for bad legal advice,” House President Pro Tem Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, said.
“… I’m going to go back to the attorney general’s office, y’all might want to do some remedial education on some of these attorneys, because there is some bad legal advice being given and some people are blaming you all for it.”
Kelley asked board representatives Thursday why Yeatman’s contract was renewed in late 2024 following the issue-filled audit last summer.
“I thought everything was kind of settled at that point, and then when I became president (of the board) in January, I realized we had to move some things,” ALBOP President Dr. Gary Mount told the board. He also said there was concern Yeatman was going to sue the board for wrongful termination.
He and others defended most of the board’s actions on Thursday. The sunset committee voted to renew the board’s authority for one year, pending statutory changes.
A response from board leadership wasn’t available following Thursday’s meeting, but in a written response to the examiners’ audit, former interim executive secretary Casey Shaw said the board “remains committed to fully addressing each concern.”
“To that end, we have worked closely with Board Counsel, the Office of the Attorney General, and your office to ensure corrective measures are implemented and that prior actions are appropriately revised,” Shaw wrote.
In an emailed statement Thursday evening, the AG’s office said when it represents an agency, it advises on the risks of trial versus settlement.
“Litigation in employment cases can be costly and disruptive, but settling weak claims could encourage more,” the statement said. “Each case is decided on its facts, and we cannot discuss specifics due to confidentiality.”
Last year’s audit and sunset meeting resulted in legislation this year expand the ABP from five to nine members to be appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and Senate Pro Tempore, require the appointment of a new executive director that has not worked for the board in the past five years and clarify the board’s ability to issue fees and fines.
Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, sponsored that bill. Thursday, Underwood said the new audit showed a “number of missteps that could have been avoided.”
“We rely on our legal (counsel) and there should not be an issue where any of us go into executive session and it’s done incorrectly, not when you have attorneys present,” Underwood said.
There were also allegations during the meeting’s public comment period of retaliation by the board on those who complain about it. Elliott said he wants those investigated.
The committee also voted to sunset the Alabama Board of Home Medical Equipment, which licenses businesses that sell at-home medical devices. Lawmakers said the board’s authority would be dissolved next year, pending verification that state licensure isn’t a requirement of Medicaid before it pays for equipment.
The committee also moved to disband the Alabama State Board of Prosthetists and Orthotists. Committee co-chair Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, at a meeting last month pointed out most states don’t regulate prosthetic care.
The committee also voted Thursday to move three boards’ administration management under state agencies. The Massage Therapy Board and Alabama Sickle Cell Oversight and Regulatory Commission would be overseen by the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute to the Alabama Department of Workforce.
All the committee’s recommendations have to be approved through bills in next year’s legislative session. It starts Jan. 13.