�����Ƶ

Woelfel said the bill was created to address bad actors who exploit people in recovery. The goal of the program would be to find a �����Ƶ�requitable�����Ƶ� resolution on unanticipated cessation of a person�����Ƶ�s participation in a recovery program.

The bill outlines reasons a resident may be immediately discharged, including involvement with drugs or alcohol, sexual misconduct, a crime of violence or any conduct that jeopardizes the safety of another.

Outside those areas, the recovery resident and business would have a landlord-tenant relationship, entitling the resident to the same due process and an eviction process afforded to anyone who rents in the community.

If a person was transported by the recovery residence from any location outside West Virginia, the program would be required to provide transportation to return home at the program�����Ƶ�s expense. Once a person is no longer part of a program, a prorated refund for rent or fees will be paid to the party who paid for the services.

The bill also has a provision for non-identifying resident information regarding the reason for early discharge to be sent to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources for Behavioral Health.

Recovery homes became a center of discussion this week during a presentation to the West Virginia Legislature�����Ƶ�s Joint Committee on Children and Families as Bob Leslie, counsel for the House of Delegates, educated lawmakers on human trafficking.

Leslie said an emerging national trend in the field is labor trafficking through rehabilitation programs and he would �����Ƶ�definitely be suspicious of�����Ƶ� them.

Leslie said while not all recovery homes are an issue, some have been problematic.

�����Ƶ�There�����Ƶ�s one locally that was forcing them to make crosses and then they would make them go out and stay for hours upon hours in Walmart parking lots in the summertime with no water, no breaks, nothing but selling these crosses,�����Ƶ� he said.

He said he has seen signs, specifically in Huntington and Parkersburg, where recovery groups will use a marketer to go out of state and recruit people to rehabilitate in West Virginia, but once they no longer need services the person will be left on the streets with no help in getting back home, Leslie said.

�����Ƶ�They�����Ƶ�ll stack these people in attics and everything else, charge them whatever there is. They�����Ƶ�ve got rent, a bed and a wardrobe closet and put 25 people in a home,�����Ƶ� he said. �����Ƶ�Then they ended up on the streets of West Virginia. Does any element of that sound like human trafficking? Yes.�����Ƶ�

The majority of those people were brought to West Virginia from Georgia for rehab but were instead forced into labor.

West Virginia has taken steps in recent years to regulate recovery homes, an industry that has exploded alongside the drug epidemic over the last decade. The West Virginia Alliance of Recovery Residents certifies programs who follow state and federal standards, but certification is not required to operate. However, because substance use disorder is a disability, laws on the federal and state levels restrict any government entity from creating or enforcing a majority of regulations for the protection of people recovering.