Legislative Alert: Arizona Sober Living Homes Licensure & Certification

March 6, 2018

On February 22, 2018, Arizona legislators introduced House Bill 2529, which would establish licensure requirements for sober living homes. Currently, Arizona state laws only require that facilities providing substance abuse treatments be licensed by the state.

If passed, the bill would create mandatory licensure and certification procedures for sober living homes, which the bill defines in part as any premises that provide alcohol-free or drug-free housing and do not provide any medical or clinical services or medication administration on-site, except for the verification of abstinence. The bill would enable the Director of the Department of Health Services to establish minimum requirements for sober living homes, including required fees, inspections, and standards for licensure. In lieu of state licensure, the current version of the bill would allow sober living homes to operate if they were certified by a certifying organization and otherwise meet all licensure requirements promulgated by the Department of Health Services. Sober living homes would have to be licensed or certified to operate in the state; facilities that violated the proposed law would face civil penalties for each day they operated without required credentials.

Beginning January 1, 2020, only certified and/or licensed sober living homes would be able to receive client referrals from licensed treatment programs in the state, treatment programs funded by state or federal funds, state agencies, or state-contracted vendors. In addition, only certified and/or licensed sober living homes would be able to receive federal or state funding to provide sober living services. The Department of Health Services would also be required to issue annual reports on licensed sober living homes to the Arizona Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the House of Representatives Health Committee that included statistics on sober living homes in operations, complaints, and enforcement actions.

AATA will continue to monitor the progress of Arizona House Bill 2529 and will update members on any important legislative updates. For more information on the current laws governing treatment programs and sober living facilities in Arizona, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions pages for the state.