If an assisted living center or home allows it, a person who does not receive care services may live with a resident in the resident's unit or in another unit, and the department may not require that person to have a service plan or receive care.
Official title: assisted living; occupants
- Immediately as an emergency law (approved April 6, 2026)
What changes
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NowIf the assisted living center or assisted living home allows it, a person who does not receive supervisory care, personal care or directed care services may live with a resident in the resident's unit. This applies even with what section 36-407, subsection A says.
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NowIf the facility allows it, such a person may also live in any other unit within the assisted living center or home.
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NowThe department may not place any requirement on that person that a resident would not have to meet.
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NowThe department may not require that person to have a service plan or to receive supervisory care, personal care or directed care services.
Who it affects
- People who do not need care services and want to live in an assisted living center or home, including with a resident
- Residents of assisted living centers and assisted living homes
- Assisted living centers and assisted living homes
- The department that oversees these facilities
What you need to do
Nothing. Whether a person who does not receive care may live there depends on whether the facility allows it.
What the law doesn't answer
- What section 36-407, subsection A requires, and so what earlier rule this sets aside
- Which department is meant, as the text says only "the department"
- Whether the person living with a resident must be a family member, spouse or have any relationship to the resident
- Whether facilities may charge such occupants or what terms apply
- Whether any limits apply to how many such occupants a facility may have
This summary describes the law as enacted. Later laws, court rulings or referendum petitions can change the picture. Check the official text for the current wording.