Key points:

• Lawmakers are sending a bill on sober living homes to the governor

• Sen. Theresa Hatahtlie opposes the bill

• Lawmakers sounded alarm on sober living homes in 2019

A state senator whose family has been personally affected by sober living homes fraud blasted her colleagues and accused them of cutting her out of a bill that further regulates licensed recovery centers. 

Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, D-Tuba City, spoke out against Senate Bill 1308 on an April 16 Senate floor hearing as the chamber voted on an unrelated bill that would require people to testify to the Legislature if requested by a committee to speak. 

She said she felt the need to speak out against the bill because she felt one of the House cosponsors, Rep. Matt Gress, R-Pheonix, had lied about her level of involvement in drafting the bill. 

Gress thanked Sen. Frank Carroll, R-Sun City West, for his work on the bill and said he knows his colleague worked with Hatathlie and many others who have been negatively impacted by sober living homes fraud. 

“An absolute lie,” Hatathlie said. “If this was going to pass, I would hope that they would receive a subpoena, commit perjury and be held in contempt.”

The Arizona House of Representatives passed SB1308 with a supermajority vote of 42-10 just a day before Hatathlie’s accusation of Gress. Several members were not present during the vote, including Hathalie’s two House seatmates, Reps. Myron Tsosie, D-Chinle, and Mae Peshlakai, D-Cameron. 

The bill from Caroll is a product years in the making after lawmakers sounded the alarm about sober living homes in 2019 with a House ad hoc Committee on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples. 

Last year, senators read a letter from Hatathlie to honor her niece who died in a sober living facility. Lawmakers have estimated sober living home fraud has cost the state more than $2 billion as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System allows people enrolled in the American Indian Health Program to get behavioral health coverage through the state’s Medicaid system. 

SB1308 would require more oversight from the Department of Health Services into the health and safety standards of sober living homes, including making sure facilities are always free from alcohol and illegal substances.

The measure also raises the cap for violations of sober living home regulations from $500 to $1,000 and requires recovery center staff to be fingerprinted. DHS would also have more avenues to discipline sober living facilities or revoke a license if a facility has broken the law. 

The Legislature failed to pass either of the two competing sober living homes bills to the finish line in 2024, but the passage of SB1308 in the House indicates some consensus on the issue. 

Gress ran a similar bill to Carroll’s in 2024 and lamented the Legislature wasn’t able to incorporate more of Hathatlie’s bill during that session. Tsosie and Peshlakai supported Caroll’s 2024 bill and Tsosie said last year he was committed to working with the governor and the League of Arizona Cities and Towns in 2025 to see the bill signed this session. 

“The legislative process — If you fail, try, try again,” Gress said.

The Arizona Republic reported several organizations, including the Arizona Medical Association and the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, opposed Hatahtlie’s bill last year because they said it was too broad since Hatahlie wanted every health care provider of behavioral health services to get a state license as a behavioral health entity.

This year, Hathatlie has called for stronger language in all sober living homes legislation, specifically for the ability of the Arizona Corporation Commission to license treatment facilities. She also accused Gress, who worked as a policy adviser to former Corporation Commissioner Andy Tobin in 2016 and 2017, in March of killing her bill last year if she didn’t remove language related to the commission. 

“Any time that these bad actors commit crimes that are given a suspension under the Department of Health Services and the attorney general, they can turn around and walk out in one afternoon with 20 more licenses,” Hathatlie said. “When it comes to letters of good standing, they go to the ACC board.”

While some Democrats felt conflicted at the lack of Hatathlie’s involvement with SB1308, most of them still voted to pass the bill. Reps. Mariana Sandoval, D-Goodyear, and Quantá Crews, D-Phoenix, said they would have rather seen Hatathlie be more included in discussions of the bill, but both voted to pass it since the bill has garnered support from other tribal communities, the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and other stakeholders. 

“She has never worked with Sen. Carroll on this bill. She has serious concerns about this bill, as do I,” Sandoval said. 

The league urged Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign the bill in a news release April 17.

“This legislation is urgently needed to root out the fraudulent operators who take advantage of vulnerable people under the guise of providing care,” said Kevin Hartke, mayor of Chandler and president of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. “Too many unlicensed facilities have been allowed to thrive in the shadows, putting lives at risk and destabilizing surrounding neighborhoods. SB1308 gives the state and the cities the tools needed to hold these bad actors accountable.”

Hobbs announced a bill moratorium on April 17 out of frustration with Republicans who she said are engaging in “political warfare” over emergency funding to the Division of Developmental Disabilities. That means she won’t sign any new bills she receives until the Legislature advances a more bipartisan funding bill. However, she specified the moratorium only affects legislation transmitted to the governor after her announcement, so she may still sign SB1308 if she agrees with the proposal.