Plain English Breakdown
The official status indicates a veto, but the final outcome depends on whether lawmakers overrode it; the provided text does not confirm an override.
The Supportive-Recovery Residence Program
This vetoed bill would have allowed state funding for housing programs requiring residents to be drug-free, while ensuring that at least 90% of funds in each area supported harm-reduction services.
What This Bill Does
- Authorizes state programs to fund supportive-recovery residences that emphasize abstinence from drugs and alcohol if specific criteria are met.
- Requires that at least 90% of program funds awarded to each jurisdiction be used for housing or services using a harm-reduction model.
- Prohibits evicting tenants solely because they relapse into drug or alcohol use, as specified in the bill.
- Requires operators to keep residents housed until securing them permanent housing that uses harm-reduction principles if the resident leaves the program, is at risk of eviction, or no longer wants an abstinence-focused residence.
- Mandates support for accessing medications for behavioral and physical health conditions, plus overdose prevention training and reversal medication for staff and residents.
Who It Names or Affects
- People experiencing homelessness living in supportive-recovery residences funded by state programs.
- Operators of housing facilities applying for these specific state funds.
- The Department of Housing and Community Development, which must set standards, verify compliance, and manage fees.
Terms To Know
- Harm-reduction model
- A service approach that recognizes drug or alcohol use as part of a tenant's life and uses nonjudgmental communication to keep them safe and housed.
- Abstinence focus
- A program requirement where residents must not use drugs or alcohol while living in the residence.
- Relapse
- When a person who has stopped using drugs or alcohol starts using them again, which cannot be used as the sole reason for eviction under this bill.
Limits and Unknowns
- The governor vetoed this bill; it did not become law unless lawmakers later overrode that veto.
- Funding from a new fee fund depends on future decisions by the Legislature to appropriate money.
- The Department of Housing and Community Development must adopt standards approved by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences or other national standards, but does not specify which exact standard will be chosen.