[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 9, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H3843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PROTECTING RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES

  (Mr. ROHRABACHER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Restoring 
Community Oversight of Sober Living Homes Act of 2018. This bill 
addresses Federal policies that have resulted in the proliferation of 
sober living homes in residential neighborhoods.
  These so-called homes, which are really businesses in all but name, 
house drug and alcohol addicts in single-family residences. This 
infusion of drug addicts and alcoholics into residential communities 
has had a deleterious impact on the quality of life of local families 
who now suffer increases in police activity, transient residences next 
door, and a decline of property values.
  Federal law has shielded unscrupulous owners, operators, and 
inhabitants of these so-called sober living homes from meaningful 
oversight. The well-being of the neighbors that surround them has been 
ignored. This is a travesty.
  My bill will empower the communities and the States to prohibit such 
facilities in residential areas if that is the will of the local 
people. I now submit this legislation and ask my colleagues to 
cosponsor the bill, which is based on the principle of federalism, 
protecting local residential communities across our land.

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