Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 22 of chapter 13 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1996 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the third sentence and inserting in place thereof the following two sentences:- At the time of appointment to the board, at least one of such five members shall be an independent pharmacist employed in the independent pharmacy setting and at least one of such five members shall be a chain pharmacist employed in the chain pharmacy setting provided, however, that not more than two pharmacists in any one practice setting may serve on the board at any one time. For the purposes of this section "independent pharmacist" shall mean a pharmacist actively engaged in the business of retail pharmacy and employed in an organization of nine or fewer registered retail drugstores in the commonwealth under the provisions of section 39 of chapter 112 and employing not more than 20 full-time pharmacists, and "chain pharmacist" shall mean a pharmacist in the employ of a retail drug organization operating ten or more retail drug stores within the commonwealth under the provisions of said section 39; provided, however, that an independent pharmacist and a chain pharmacist shall represent two distinct practice settings.

SECTION 2. Said section 22 of said chapter 13, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 13, the word "public,".