Ohio Senate Addiction and Community Revitalization Committee - 3-24-2026

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I move to favorably report House Bill 393 to the Committee on Rules and Reference.

Yes.

Yes.

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Yes.

And Representative Pazuli, you may proceed. Thank you very much. Good to see everybody. Chair Landis, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Blackshire, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide sponsored testimony on House Bill 58, a bipartisan bill that passed the House unanimously to raise the standard of care in recovery housing. Looks like a busy committee today, so I'll keep it short. There are many examples of bad actors throughout Ohio in this space. And I just want to tell you about one gentleman that was in my district. And on a random inspection, the Ohio Department of Behavior Health met a man at a recovery home on an inspection. I'll call him Tom. Tom is from northern Ohio. He struggled with opioid addiction, and a court ordered him into recovery. But instead of being placed near a home, near his home, he was dropped off four hours away in rural southern Ohio. No car, no family, no job, no home. And when the state entered the facility, they found too many bunk beds, a door hanging off the hinges, dog feces on the floor, and one resident keeping a rat as a pet. And Tom quietly pulled someone from the state over and said, Please help me get out of here. I want to leave. I don't know how. And that really stuck with me. Tom wasn't failing recovery. Recovery was failing Tom. It's time that we start treating recovery housing more like health care. House Bill 58 builds off the work first started by Senator Johnson. Before his work, we didn't even know where recovery houses were located. And as you know, if you want to fix a problem, you have to see it first. And this bill takes the next steps. It cracks down on the kickbacks that lure vulnerable people into unsafe housing. It gives local prosecutors the tools to shut down bad actors very quickly. And it requires the Department of Behavioral Health to set clear, enforceable standards and ensures that when someone is sent away for treatment, they're not abandoned without a way to get home if something happens. Because recovery should be a path forward, not a dead end in a place you don't even know and with no way out. So House Bill 58 is about accountability. It's about keeping dignity in the industry. The good actors want this bill. And it's about making sure what happened to Tom never, ever has to happen again. And with that, I will turn it to my joint sponsor, right on time.

Thank you, Chair. Chair Landis, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Blackshear, and members of the Addiction Community Revitalization Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide sponsored testimony on House Bill 58. I am proud to join my colleague, Representative Pazuli, in bringing this legislation forward before you. This is a bipartisan bill that passed the House unanimously, and it reflects months of intentional effort, of listening, and refinement to get this bill right. Because at its core, this bill is about people. It is about making sure that when someone makes the courageous decision to pursue recovery the system they step into meets them with structure safety and support not neglect not confusion or exploitation And I want to take this moment to thank you Vice Chair Johnson for your continued leadership on this issue, especially through the work of Senate Bill 138. That legislation was critical step in bringing accountability to the recovery housing space by requiring registration and creating consequences for those who operate outside the law. House Bill 58 builds on that foundation. While drafting this bill, we heard from families, providers doing the work the right way, communities carrying the weight of a system that in too many cases often lacked consistency and accountability, and we worked to build and craft a bill that reflects all of that input. This legislation creates a centralized, transparent list of recovery housing operators so that Ohio has one consistent record of where these homes exist and where and who is responsible for them. It creates an ombudsman program, so individuals in recovery have an advocate, someone who they can speak with through the complaint process to ensure their voice is not lost in the system. It forms a task force to examine how recovery housing resources are distributed across our state so we can ensure that access is not only available, but it is equitable across and effective across the entire state and the communities in which we serve. It clarifies transportation responsibilities, making it clear that when courts refer individuals to treatment, there is a shared responsibility to ensure that they are not left stranded, disconnected, or abandoned. It authorizes civil penalties so when bad actors exploit vulnerable people, communities are not forced to wait. They can act. And it strengthens communication between Ohio Department of Behavioral Health, the ADAMH boards, and certifying bodies so that complaints are not lost, delayed, or ignored, but handled swiftly and consistently. These reforms are practical, they're measured, and they're necessary, and they protect those in recovery. And I really want to mention that because these are people doing the hard work, daily work, of reclaiming their lives and becoming reproductive community members. They give families peace of mind, knowing that when their loved one enters a recovery home, they're entering a place of care, not uncertainty. I want to thank you, Chairman, for your leadership on this, the Community Revitalization Committee for its unanimous support as the bill was moving out the House, and advocates and stakeholders who helped shape this legislation every step of the way. So Chair Landis, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Blackshear, members of the committee, thank you for allowing us to provide sponsored testimony on House Bill 58. I believe this bill truly reflects what is possible when we build a strong foundation, We listen with intention and center those who are on our journey towards recovery. We're happy to answer any questions you may have at this time.

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for bringing this bill and for your attention to the matter. Have you found a way to determine the county of origin for the folks that are in treatment centers?

So, yeah, so thank you, Chairman. And it's very difficult to get data because of HIPAA and all that. There's like 33 different reasons why you can't get data. And knowing who these folks are, where they're from, is vital to the sort of thing that you're trying to accomplish here. Because not only do folks that come from outside of the small community where these treatment centers are come, but also children typically come. And then children's services gets overburdened, and they don't have the resources to really respond. And so Representative Pizzouli, as you certainly know, we've had experiences where we've had caseloads with children's services that rival major metropolitan centers like Cleveland or Columbus, and it's been backbreaking. And we've had some special challenges from that. So anything we can do to dig down and find out what's going on and whether or not we're getting an appropriate community response. In my own opinion, what treatment centers should be doing in a county or a region is taking care of that county or that region and responding to that instead of getting really big and getting people from every nook and cranny in the state and overwhelming And then the other thing that I really have found and it very unfortunate when you have this overburdening of a small area people who should be in favor of folks getting well from this terrible disease all of a sudden feel like, oh, gosh, I don't want these people around. And you get a negative backlash that doesn't help anybody. So anything we can do to move down that path and figure out where folks should be more appropriately treated, I'm in favor of.

A follow-up? So just another comment. I think you brought up an excellent point there. It begins to do something. And, you know, we've been able to chip away at a problem. We can never really solve it. And we're going to have addicted people around for a long, long time. Long time. And so trying to do this better is a good idea. We've evolved from addiction just basically being alcohol and alcohol treatment and tried to build models on top of that. And this is clearly very different. It's not going away. And the tertiary, quaternary, as many areas as you can think of, because I don't know what goes next, but those problems continue to just roll out of this.

And as we try to get better in an economically recessed area like southern Ohio, it's very difficult to do that when you're hobbled by such a terrible problem. And I really want to see people who want to get well have the opportunity to get well.

So thank you for doing this.

Any further questions?

Thank you, Senator, for that question. So we've all lost friends and family members, at least in my district. If you ask the entire district, raise your hand if you've lost someone. We've lost someone. And my hope is that people get better. And I actually stay right over here at a hotel at the Holiday Inn. and there was a wonderful woman who said, you know, are you the representative from Portsmouth? And I said, yes, I am. And she said, I lived down there for a little bit. And I said, what brought you down? Well, I was seeking recovery. And that's a great thing. And I want people to stay if they're recovering, right, and living, working, raising a family and getting better. But the issue we've had is the courts issuing folks down, and sometimes maybe they don't want to be there, and they're defying the court order, and sometimes they're stuck homeless. And so, as you mentioned, we're trying to provide some sort of vehicle to if people want to be able to get home, what are the transportation options out there? So this bill requires that they be offered potential. It doesn't say we're not mandating that providers give the transportation, but we're mandating that they offer the options and that the court responsible for mandating them takes a look at before you reconsider moving someone and uplifting out of their community take a second look at how can they get back home Chair I just want to say this too On top of what my joint sponsor said this bill the problem right now is that there is not a clear list that comprehensive of all of the

or the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health has a list. The Adam H. Board in that respective community, whether it's a single county or multi-county board, has a list. And then you have the actual certifying agency has their own list. And one list isn't always talking to the other. So when you have someone in the throes of addiction who has got through treatment, whether 30-day or extended period, they're now being phased to move into recovery housing for further their continued care, They're like, well, where do we go? Obviously, there's a housing shortage. And so these families, these individuals are like, where do we go? So they pick out of these lists who they think are certified and all these lists are to them are correct. But unfortunately, what we're finding is some of these lists haven't been updated. They do not always have the best providers on those lists. And then when they when they go into these communities, these places, these homes, they're dilapidated. They don't necessarily have all the right resources for the for the individual. And ultimately, that can spiral that individual from that pathway, successful pathway of recovery to a situation where now they're homeless because the environment was not conducive to help them on their path to actually well to wellness. And so to your point about transparency, making it and centering the certifying body of the Department of Behavioral Health as the vehicle for a one-stop, one-shop list that is certified, that is valid for these individuals, it cuts down on the noise so that these individuals know without a shadow of a doubt that this housing that's available is the ones that have been certified and reviewed by the state.

not a culture, a feeling that I want to be involved here. Absolutely. But your legislation that you're putting forward here,

Chair, beautiful question. Before I was elected, I served with the Ohio Association of County of Health Authorities. We had the trade association that represented all the Adam H. boards around the state. And I had that role for five years before I moved on to now become elected. And I can tell you that the stigma that exists in all communities, all counties across Ohio is real. And it prevents a lot of individuals from even speaking up if they have a cocaine addiction or a crack addiction or alcoholism. And in some cases, these families have co-occurring disorders where there's a mental health disorder overlaying an addiction. Maybe I had anxiety and I'm using my drinking to cover or mask how I'm feeling. And that ultimately leads down, that puts down a path of destruction. And what I believe House Bill 58 does is it rights the ship. And here's what I mean when I say that. Oftentimes when individuals are reaching out for help, this could be the first time that they do it. no other time they may have said to themselves, I'm healed, I'm ready, I'm good, I can hold myself, I'm fine. And then the moment they say, oh, I am ready for treatment. I'm ready to get into a recovery house. I'm ready to be on the path for recovery. That hand that extends out back to that individual very well could be the first and the last. I feel like you like a relay race. If you don't take that baton and that baton isn't ready for you, you're not ready for that baton. or that repatant is not healthy enough for you, we could lose that person. And I've seen way too many families cry at memorials over opioid addiction or fentanyl addiction, and then they die, pass away, and we could have helped them, but the system wasn't there to support them when they needed it. And House Bill 58, I believe, takes us one step further to creating no wrong door. And what I mean by that is the person walks into the room of a recovery house, They're not met with feces. They're not met with rats and roaches. They're met with a housing that is quality and is supported by the community. So it reduces stigma because those bad actors are being pushed out. They're no longer existing in the state of Ohio. And so families get to see what real recovery looks like and ultimately can affirm that any of my family could go through addiction. And I would want them to live in those houses, too, because I believe that it's going to help them get back on their feet.