WEST virginia legislature

2020 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4620

By Delegate Rohrbach

[Introduced January 30, 2020; Referred to the Committee on Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse then Health and Human Resources]

A BILL to amend and reenact §16-59-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; relating to certification of recovery residences; and redefining definition of “recovery residence”.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 59. CERTIFICATION OF RECOVERY RESIDENCES.

§16-59-1. Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

(1) “Certificate of compliance” means a certificate that is issued to a recovery residence by the department’s appointed certifying agency.

(2) “Certified recovery residence” means a recovery residence that holds a valid certificate of compliance.

(3) “Department” means the Department of Health and Human Resources.

(4) “Recovery residence” means a structure which would normally be classified as a single-family, which will be utilized as a drug-free, and alcohol-free residential, dwelling unit, or other form of group housing, that is offered or advertised by any person or entity as a residence that provides a drug-free and alcohol-free living environment for the purposes of promoting sustained, long-term recovery from substance use disorder. In no case shall a structure that would not be normally classified as a single family dwelling be exempt from the state building or fire codes that govern the occupancy and construction of those structures. 

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to redefine the definition of “recovery residence”

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.