Senate Bill 838 — which 1) mandates state certification of all Virginia recovery homes and 2) convenes a workgroup under the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to revamp the certification process (to include establishing rights for sober home residents) — was not heard last week as scheduled. The bill was re-referred to the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services and has been placed on tomorrow’s docket. 

The committee meets tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 24, at 8 a.m. in Senate Room A of the General Assembly Building. 

To view the hearing remotely: Visit the Virginia Senate Live Session Video Stream website.

To provide a written comment to the committee: Email it with the bill number (SB838) to committeeoperations@senate.virginia.gov. (These comments are not posted publicly.) 

Note: If you previously emailed a comment for last Friday’s hearing, you should re-send it to the same email address.

If your representative serves on the committee, it might also be worth making contact directly. To find out who represents you, visit the state’s Who’s My Legislator? service.

To testify remotely: Visit the Virginia Senate Live Session Video Stream website and follow the instructions in the yellow box at the top of the page. You will be able to sign up 30 minutes before the committee meeting starts.

To testify in person: Just show up and wait for the public comment period.

House Bill 2289 — which I covered extensively in an article posted this morning — requires localities to allow certified recovery residences of eight or fewer occupants to operate by right in neighborhoods zoned for single family use.

The bill is scheduled to be heard tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 24, by House Subcommittee #3 on Counties, Cities and Towns. The subcommittee meets at 7 a.m. in House Committee Room B – 205 of the General Assembly Building.

To view the hearing remotely, visit the Virginia House of Delegates Video Streaming website.

To sign up to speak or leave a written public comment, click here.

If your representative serves on the subcommittee, it might also be worth making contact directly. To find out who represents you, visit the state’s Who’s My Legislator? service.

I will continue following these bills as they move through the legislative process.

Please subscribe for updates.

Scroll below to view investigative stories in The Parham Papers series, or visit the homepage to explore all articles, including legislative updates.

Starfish Recovery owners leave multi-year trail of denial, deflection and threats

‘I don’t understand why you care’

Zoning for Virginia recovery homes: Power, protection and everything in between

‘He’s in his own harem’: Inside the taxpayer-funded sober home of a Virginia senator’s brother

‘We kind of created a monster’: How the sober home industry infiltrated Henrico courts

Journey House: What’s beneath the ‘Foundation’

‘All Virginians’ still come second to insider benefits

He loved the women’s house ‘for all the wrong reasons’: Former female residents describe Starfish Recovery & Wellness under Frank Bellanger’s control

New VARR audit confirms undisclosed conflicts of interest, finds other deficiencies

Degraded, silenced, exiled: The quiet casualties of Starfish Recovery & Wellness

Starfish Recovery, River City and Medicaid: How sober home residents become outpatient hostages

Relapse, secrecy, and weak oversight shadow Richmond recovery leaders

VARR secures millions; VARR leaders among top beneficiaries

The Medicaid cash cow

Introducing The Parham Papers