California legislation seeks to regulate sober living homes and residential treatment

In February 2016, four bills were introduced in Sacramento targeting aspects of residential treatment operations, and also seeking to give local governments the means to regulate sober living homes. This is a determined effort, led largely by affluent coastal cities in Southern California with support by the League of California Cities.

This is a holding place for a lot of content being developed on this issue. Two of the four bills have already been defeated, both of which raised serious fair housing concerns. Two others were approved by the Assembly Committee on Health, and are currently (May 4) in the Assembly Appropriations Committee since they each impose financial obligations on local governments and state agencies.