Committee approves licensing and oversight changes for recovery residences, adopts amendments

Sponsors told the Health and Human Services Committee that Senate Bill 26‑113 would transfer licensing and enforcement authority for recovery residences (sober living homes) to the Behavioral Health Administration to close enforcement gaps they said exist under third‑party certification.

Representative Carter described the bill as a safety‑focused change so the state can investigate and take action against operators who refuse to comply with certification or safety requirements. Co‑prime Representative McCormick outlined three amendments: L008 (adopt background‑check procedures from existing statute and require residences to meet residential building codes), L009 (clarify an alternative pathway for Oxford House chartered homes while allowing BHA to respond to complaints), and L012 (set guardrails for how prescribed medications are handled, preserve MAT and permit individualized risk assessments and rulemaking).

Panel witnesses included providers and advocacy groups (Colorado Providers Association and Mental Health Colorado) that supported licensing for direct enforcement and a grievance process. Recovery residence operators testified with conditional support, emphasizing concerns about medication diversion (stimulants, opioids, benzodiazepines) and asking that certification remain available where appropriate because certification is tied to some federal funding streams.

Committee members pressed sponsors and BHA staff on how 'directly related' would be applied in criminal‑history reviews, whether licensing would force faith‑based or abstinence‑only homes to accept prescribed medications, and whether small homes would be disproportionately burdened. BHA officials said the bill adopts multi‑state fingerprint background checks, that crimes determined to be directly related to operator roles are not limited by a three‑year lookback, and that MAT protections are consistent with ADA and the Fair Housing Act. The L008, L009 and L012 amendments were adopted (votes recorded), and the committee voted 8‑5 to send the amended bill to the Committee on Finance for further consideration.

Next steps: SB 26‑113 as amended will be considered by the Committee on Finance; rulemaking and stakeholder processes were discussed as part of implementation planning.