Office of Professional Regulation wins extension to finalize pharmacy administrative rules

Jennifer Cohen, Director of the Office of Professional Regulation, asked the Legislative Committee on Administrative Tools on Aug. 7, 2025, to extend the deadline to adopt administrative rules for the profession of pharmacy.
Cohen told the committee, “We filed those rules on 01/15/2025 and, have engaged in extensive, public comment and we had 3 public hearings.” She said the agency needs more time to review stakeholder feedback and finish its rulemaking process carefully.
The request grew out of a multi‑year rulemaking effort that Cohen said involved multiple license types and heavy staff workload. She said staff member Emily Trudeau had led much of the recent drafting and implementation work. Cohen initially requested an extension to Nov. 15 but agreed to revise the submission target after committee members said that schedule would be too tight.
Committee members pressed for a later deadline for final rules to be delivered for committee review. After discussion, Cohen said the agency would revise its request to target Dec. 15 for the final rules. Representative Bodie moved to accept the extension request as revised; the committee voted in favor.
The committee recorded no additional modifications to the substance of the proposed pharmacy rules during this session. The action was limited to changing the administrative timeline so the Office of Professional Regulation can complete its review of public comments and file final rules with the legislature.