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A House Committee Substitute (HCS) for HB 1093,
dealing with the rights of persons with service dogs, is now on the
House Perfection Calendar. The HCS differs from the original bill in
several ways.
The original bill prohibited discrimination in employment, public
accommodations, and housing against persons with disabilities who
use a service dog. The HCS removes this language, but current state
statute
already prohibits discrimination in these areas.
The HCS does include most of the other parts of the original bill to
create penalties against a person who harms a service dog, although
some are reduced from the original. In the original bill, a person
who knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly causes substantial
physical injury or the death of a service dog would be guilty of a
class C felony. In the HCS, the crime is a class A misdemeanor. The
HCS also makes it a class B misdemeanor to harass or chase a service
dog. The HCS also outlines civil damages that may
be recovered by a person with a disability to recover expenses due
to losing the use of their service dog because of these criminal
acts.
The HCS makes it illegal (class B misdemeanor) to impersonate a
person with a disability by use of a dog or service dog, as did the
original bill.
Finally, while the HCS still applies to service dogs including Guide
dogs, Hearing dogs, Medical alert/response dogs, and Mobility dogs,
it removes "Emotional support dogs" from the bill language.
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