Florida Senate - 2025 CS for CS for SB 954
By the Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services;
the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senators Gruters and
Rouson
603-03582-25 2025954c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to certified recovery residences;
3 amending s. 397.487, F.S.; providing that certain
4 recovery residences are deemed a nontransient
5 residential use of land for a specified purpose;
6 prohibiting a local law, ordinance, or regulation from
7 prohibiting or regulating a certified recovery
8 residence in a multifamily structure; requiring a
9 municipality or county to allow certain certified
10 recovery residences in specified zoned districts
11 without the need to obtain changes in certain zoning
12 or land use; specifying the allowable use of such
13 certified recovery residences; authorizing a
14 municipality or county to deny the establishment of a
15 certified Level IV recovery residence if the proposed
16 use is adjacent to, or on two or more sides of, a
17 parcel zoned for a specified use and within a certain
18 single-family residential development; defining the
19 term “adjacent to”; providing applicability; amending
20 s. 397.4871, F.S.; providing that the personnel-to
21 resident ratio for a certified recovery residence must
22 be met only when the residents are at the residence;
23 providing that a certified recovery residence
24 administrator for Level IV certified recovery
25 residences which maintains a specified personnel-to
26 patient ratio has a limitation on the number of
27 residents it may manage; providing an effective date.
28
29 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
30
31 Section 1. Subsection (15) is added to section 397.487,
32 Florida Statutes, to read:
33 397.487 Voluntary certification of recovery residences.—
34 (15)(a) A certified recovery residence that does not occupy
35 a community or structure that is governed by a condominium
36 association under chapter 718, or which fully occupies a
37 community or structure that is governed by a condominium
38 association under chapter 718, is deemed a nontransient
39 residential use for purposes of all local zoning ordinances. A
40 local law, ordinance, or regulation may not prohibit certified
41 recovery residences or regulate the duration or frequency of use
42 of a certified recovery residence in a multifamily structure.
43 (b) A municipality or county shall allow the establishment
44 of a certified recovery residence in all districts zoned
45 multifamily residential and shall allow a structure originally
46 constructed and permitted for multifamily purposes to be used as
47 a certified recovery residence, allowing up to two residents per
48 bedroom, without obtaining a zoning or a land use change, a
49 special exception, a conditional use approval, a variance, or a
50 comprehensive plan amendment for the zoning and densities
51 authorized under this subsection.
52 (c) A municipality or county may deny the establishment of
53 a Level IV certified recovery residence if the proposed use is
54 adjacent to, or on two or more sides of, a parcel zoned for
55 single-family residential use and is within a single-family
56 residential development with at least 25 contiguous single
57 family homes. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term
58 “adjacent to” means those properties sharing more than one point
59 of a property line, but the term does not include properties
60 separated by a public road.
61 (d) This subsection applies to certified recovery residence
62 providers that were voluntarily certified by the credentialing
63 entity pursuant to this section on or before July 1, 2025.
64 Section 2. Paragraph (c) of subsection (8) of section
65 397.4871, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
66 397.4871 Recovery residence administrator certification.—
67 (8)
68 (c) Notwithstanding paragraph (b), a Level IV certified
69 recovery residence operating as community housing as defined in
70 s. 397.311(9), which residence is actively managed by a
71 certified recovery residence administrator approved for 100
72 residents under this section and is wholly owned or controlled
73 by a licensed service provider, may:
74 1. Actively manage up to 150 residents so long as the
75 licensed service provider maintains a service provider
76 personnel-to-patient ratio of 1 to 8 and maintains onsite
77 supervision at the residence during times when residents are at
78 the residence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a personnel
79 to-resident ratio of 1 to 10.
80 2. Actively manage up to 300 residents, so long as the
81 licensed service provider maintains a service provider
82 personnel-to-patient ratio of 1 to 8 and maintains onsite
83 supervision at the residence during times when residents are at
84 the residence with a personnel-to-resident ratio of 1 to 6.
85
86 A certified recovery residence administrator who has been
87 removed by a certified recovery residence due to termination,
88 resignation, or any other reason may not continue to actively
89 manage more than 50 residents for another service provider or
90 certified recovery residence without being approved by the
91 credentialing entity.
92 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.