California Pharmacist License Renewal Question

[beautifulrobot]

CA will cancel one's pharmacist license after three years of it being expired. If I don't plan on practicing pharmacy in CA for several years, but I am not quite ready to let it go yet, does it make sense to let it expire, and just renew it before the three years pass? It just seems more cost effective then renewing every two years, even with the delinquency fee they tack on to the renewal fee if I let my license expire. Is there any negative consequences to having an expired license (besides not being able to practice pharmacy while its expired)?

The other thing is I took the NAPLEX for my CA license first, and then transferred my NAPLEX score to another state within 12 months of taking the NAPLEX/graduating pharmacy school. So technically California is my original pharmacist license, but my other state license isn't a transfer license per se, just a NAPLEX score transfer, if that makes sense (I actually don't know if there is a difference or how transferring licenses works exactly). I heard something about how if I lose my original pharmacist license, I won't be able to apply for license reciprocity with my other state license, i.e. I can only use my original license to apply for a license transfer in other states. Am I tracking this correctly at all?

Thanks for your help, SDNers.

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[lord999]

It used to be that most CA licensees had an NV or AZ license due to how the CA inactive rules changed all the time. Just pay the fee, because you pay the reactivation fee AND the CA Board may at its discretion force you to reexamine (and has done so in the past depending on who is sitting at the time). That is not the place to save money for that headache. Work two locum days if you must for the career insurance policy over the course of a decade.

Also, the difference is whether it was score transfer or reciprocity. Yours is score transfer, so the license you got elsewhere is a primary license. Now if it were through reciprocity, most states require that you keep the license that you used to reciprocate in good standing (because without it, you have no reciprocal recognition of your competency).

 

[beautifulrobot]

@lord999 , thats an excellent point. Thanks!