Sober living homes could face stiffer rules in Lexington, across KY under new bill
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- Committee advances SB 33 to strengthen oversight, local tracking of sober living homes.
- Bill mandates certification notice, contact details, fines reporting to local governments.
- Sponsor will remove public address requirement; local officials still gain access.
A Kentucky Senate committee voted Wednesday to move forward a bill that would beef up oversight of sober living homes and make it easier for local governments to track bad operators.
Senate Bill 33 would require sober living homes to send local governments notices within 30 days of a sober living home seeking certification and after it receives that certification. The bill would also require those operators to notify local governments if an operator has been fined for running afoul of state regulations.
The Senate State and Local Government Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to send SB 33 to the full Senate.
Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, and sponsor of SB 33, said the bill would make it easier for local governments to track illegal or uncertified recovery residences. The bill would also require operators to provide contact information for the people managing or overseeing that sober living home.
The bill makes tweaks to state laws passed in 2023 and 2024 upping oversight of recovery homes, Thomas said.
“The current statue requires certification by the Kentucky Alliance of Recovery Residences,” Thomas said.
But some recovery homes have not followed those certification requirements, he said.
“What’s happening now is that you have, a number of fraudulent places reported to be recovery resident centers, but they are not. They’ve not been certified,” Thomas said.
Senate Bill 33 would also require the addresses of those sober living homes be made public. After hearing concerns about safety and privacy of people in recovery, Thomas said he will remove that requirement via an amendment when the bill is voted on in the Senate.
However, local governments would have access to those addresses, he said. If a recovery residence is reported to local authorities, local officials can check the address with the list of certified sober living homes.
No heat, no water and no certification
The bill comes as many local governments, including Lexington, have tried to regulate or monitor recovery residences after many cities saw an explosion in the number of treatment homes in recent years.
Sober living homes are a type of substance abuse treatment typically used by people who are leaving residential treatment. Medicaid, the state and federal insurance program for the poor and disabled, can be billed for recovery home services.
But there have been problems with the oversight of those homes.
In December, the state shut down an illegal recovery residence in Lexington after residents complained there was no water and no electricity. The state discovered the home on Buckhorn Drive had never been certified.
One of the owners of that sober living home company, Great Neighbors, is currently under federal indictment for Medicaid fraud stemming from billing practices at a different sober living home company.
In response to Lexington residents’ concerns about some recovery home operators, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted in November 2025 to require all recovery homes to be licensed by the city and to show city leaders they are certified by the state.
Lexington’s regulations will not take effect until May 20.
Other Kentucky cities that have enacted or in the process of enacting local ordinances in response to the rapid ramp up of sober living homes include Elizabethtown. Somerset, Bellevue and Louisville.
