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Service Animal Bill Up For Vote in Washington Legislature

Flickr Creative Commons (South Carolina National Guard)

A Washington Senate committee is scheduled to vote this morning (Monday) on a proposal to penalize people who deliberately pass off their pets as trained service animals. It’s one of those “under the radar” bills that is generating plenty of debate.

About 10 days ago, the Washington House voted unanimously to change the state’s definition of service animals so that it’s consistent with the federal definition as listed in the Americans with Disabilities Act. That allows trained service dogs and miniature horses to accompany their disabled owners into all kinds of public places.  

The bill also says people who misrepresent their pets as service animals could be asked to remove their animals and even fined up to $500.

When we posted the story online, we were astonished to see the number of people who read it. A young woman from North Carolina even wrote to comment on it.

The next chapter of the story came last Thursday, when a Senate committee took more testimony.

Several lobbyists representing retail organizations lined up to support the bill. They included Holly Chisa from the Northwest Grocery Association.

“So that you understand the scope of the problem, we have one store in Seattle that, in two hours, we had 17 dogs in the store. Some of those may be service, some of them may not be, but there is a lot of confusion out there as to what is allowed and what is not allowed,” she said.

Chisa says customers are confused and so are business owners.

“There is even confusion among government agencies," she said. "I have a store right now where there is a local government that has an ordinance that requires us to allow comfort animals. However, that conflicts with health department, state and federal law, which give us a completely different interpretation of what animals we are to allow and what not to.”
 
Retailers say customers are complaining. Some have been bitten. Some have sued and the retailers are liable, even if they don’t want the animals in their establishments.  

The bill would allow store security people and others to ask whether an animal is required because of a disability and about the task the animal has been trained to perform. Carolyn Logue from the Washington Food Industry Association says her members appreciate that there’s an enforcement mechanism.

“This is a very sensitive situation and while most people might leave when asked, we need to have the police there sometimes to back us up," Logue said. "Our store employees can not be expected to deal with all of these situations by themselves.”

The bill is supported by many disability rights groups, who say their clients want to make sure they don’t lose their rights because of people who stretch the boundaries of the law. They include Diana Staden from the Arc of Washington.

“I know people with developmental disabilities and without who just get a dog and call it a comfort animal and then pack it around with them and they’re not even obedience trained, let alone trained to do what service animals are for people,” Staden said.

Some say those non-trained animals bother and even attack their trained dogs.

But others say the bill goes too far. Ayla Taylor says she suffers from PTSD and says her Staffordshire Terrier is trained to help her navigate her world, even if she doesn’t look like the stereotypical service dog.   

“The problem is putting the power in anybody’s hands to question the validity of your service animal, even if it’s well behaved,” Taylor said.
   
She says, if she has to deal with the stress of constant questioning about her dog, she’ll stop going out in public.

The bill is scheduled to get a vote in the Senate Law and Justice Committee this morning. If it’s cleared there, it goes to the full Senate.

 

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