Section 20-2-217 Surcharge on controlled substance registration certificate for maintenance, etc., of database.
Section 20-2-217
Surcharge on controlled substance registration certificate for maintenance, etc., of database.
There is hereby assessed a surcharge in the amount of ten dollars ($10) per year on the controlled substance registration certificate of each licensed medical, dental, podiatric, optometric, and veterinary medicine practitioner authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances and on the Qualified Alabama Controlled Substances Registration Certificate of each licensed assistant to physician. This surcharge shall be effective for every certificate or Qualified Alabama Controlled Substances Registration Certificate issued or renewed on or after August 1, 2004, shall be in addition to any other fees collected by the certifying boards, and shall be collected by each of the certifying boards and remitted to the department at such times and in such manner as designated in the regulations of the department. The proceeds of the surcharge assessed herein shall be used exclusively for the development, implementation, operation, and maintenance of the controlled substances prescription database.
At the end of the first fiscal year after the controlled substances database becomes operational, and at the end of each succeeding fiscal year thereafter, the State Health Officer shall determine the actual operating costs for the database, to include an allocation of costs for the services of employees of the department. If at the end of the fiscal year the State Health Officer determines that the funds received by the department for operation of the database exceed the operational costs incurred by at least twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), then the department shall refund a portion of such excess to the certifying boards which made payments to the department under this section in an amount proportional to the boards' payment, provided, however, that no payment of less that five thousand dollars ($5,000) to a certifying board shall be made.
(Act 2004-443, p. 781, §8; Act 2009-489, §2.)