Hernandez - Track Record on "Sober Living Homes"
State Senator Edward Hernandez (D), an optometrist, has served as:
2010-2018 Senator, California State Senate
2011-2018 Chair, California Senate Health Committee
4/20/16 Voted against Bates' SB 1283 to register and provide standards for unlicensed sober "board and care" environments.
Subsequently voted in FAVOR of reconsideration of the bill if it were edited.
2/17/17 Opposed SB 636 that would have made patient brokering illegal because the bill also would have required insurance companies pay reimbursements directly to the treatment provider. Bill never got out of the Health Committee.
4/26/17 Voted in favor of Bates' SB 34 to define business-operated residences, so they can be licensed, but only after gutting it to make it a bill that no longer addressed separation of recovery residences.
1/31/18 Held Informational Hearing on Addiction Treatment in California.
2/5/18 Introduced SB 992 which will ensure licensed Detoxes have a "plan" to for how to handle relapsed addicts, rather than expelling them. The plan may allow relapsed addicts to stay in the residence. Also requires that Treatment Centers reveal the residences with which they have contracts. This bill became law on 9/26/18.
While he is now proposing legislation that would improve the safety and behavior of unlicensed Recovery Care Residences, as Chair of the State Senate Health Committee he has had eight years to do so, and he is only now beginning to scratch the surface of the issue at the end of his term.
2010-2018 Senator, California State Senate
2011-2018 Chair, California Senate Health Committee
4/20/16 Voted against Bates' SB 1283 to register and provide standards for unlicensed sober "board and care" environments.
Subsequently voted in FAVOR of reconsideration of the bill if it were edited.
2/17/17 Opposed SB 636 that would have made patient brokering illegal because the bill also would have required insurance companies pay reimbursements directly to the treatment provider. Bill never got out of the Health Committee.
4/26/17 Voted in favor of Bates' SB 34 to define business-operated residences, so they can be licensed, but only after gutting it to make it a bill that no longer addressed separation of recovery residences.
1/31/18 Held Informational Hearing on Addiction Treatment in California.
2/5/18 Introduced SB 992 which will ensure licensed Detoxes have a "plan" to for how to handle relapsed addicts, rather than expelling them. The plan may allow relapsed addicts to stay in the residence. Also requires that Treatment Centers reveal the residences with which they have contracts. This bill became law on 9/26/18.
While he is now proposing legislation that would improve the safety and behavior of unlicensed Recovery Care Residences, as Chair of the State Senate Health Committee he has had eight years to do so, and he is only now beginning to scratch the surface of the issue at the end of his term.