Revision: Jan. 27, 2011, midnight
HB 398 – AS INTRODUCED
2011 SESSION
08/10
HOUSE BILL 398
AN ACT relative to service animals.
SPONSORS: Rep. Schlachman, Rock 13; Rep. Hunt, Ches 7; Rep. Abrami, Rock 13; Rep. Butynski, Ches 4; Sen. Barnes, Jr., Dist 17
COMMITTEE: Commerce and Consumer Affairs
This bill defines service animals.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
11-0557
08/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT relative to service animals.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Service Animals. Amend the chapter title of RSA 167-D to read as follows:
HEARING EAR [DOGS] ANIMALS, GUIDE [DOGS] ANIMALS,
SERVICE [DOGS] ANIMALS, AND SEARCH AND RESCUE DOGS
2 Service Animals. Amend RSA 167-D:1 through RSA 167-D:9 to read as follows:
167-D:1 Definitions. As used in this chapter:
I. “Deaf or hearing impaired person” means any person whose hearing is so severely impaired that he is unable to hear and understand normal conversational speech through the unaided ear alone, and who must depend primarily on supportive devices or visual communication such as writing, lip reading, sign language, and gestures.
II. “Hearing ear [dog] animal trainer” means any person who is employed by an organization generally recognized by agencies involved in the rehabilitation of deaf and hearing impaired as reputable and competent to provide [dogs] service animals with training, and who is actually involved in the training process.
III. “Housing accommodation” means any publicly assisted housing accommodation or any real property, or portion thereof, which is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied, as the home, residence or sleeping place of one or more persons, but shall not include any single family residence the occupants of which rent, lease, or furnish for compensation not more than one room therein.
IV. “Public facility” means any place of public accommodation and any street, highway, sidewalk, walkway, public building, and any other place or structure to which the general public is regularly, normally or customarily permitted or invited.
V. A “place of public accommodation” shall mean, but shall not be limited to, any tavern roadhouse, hotel, motel, trailer camp, whether for entertainment of transient guests or accommodation of those seeking health, recreation or rest; any producer, manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, retail shop, store establishment, or concession dealing with goods or services of any kind; any restaurant, eating house or place where food is sold for consumption on the premises; any place maintained for the sale of ice cream, ice and fruit preparations or their derivatives, soda water or confections, or where any beverages of any kind are retailed for consumption on the premises; any garage; any public conveyance operated on land or water, or in the air, or any stations and terminals thereof; any bathhouse, boardwalk, or seashore accommodation; any auditorium, meeting place, or hall; any theatre, motion picture house, music hall, roof garden, skating rink, swimming pool, amusement and recreation park, fair, bowling alley, gymnasium, shooting gallery, billiard and pool parlor, or any other place of amusement; any comfort station; any dispensary, clinic or hospital; any public library; any kindergarten, primary and secondary school, trade or business school, high school, academy, college and university, or any educational institution under the supervision of the state board of education, or the commissioner of education of the state of New Hampshire.
VI. “Blind or visually impaired person” means any person whose vision is so severely impaired that he is unable to see adequately, and who must rely primarily on supportive devices such as a white cane, or on Braille symbols.
VII. “Guide [dog] animal trainer” means any person who is employed by an organization generally recognized by agencies involved in the rehabilitation of blind and visually impaired as reputable and competent to provide [dogs] service animals with training, and who is actually involved in the training process.
VIII. “Mobility impaired person” means any person, regardless of age, who is subject to a physiological defect or deficiency regardless of its cause, nature or extent that renders the person unable to move about without the aid of crutches, a wheelchair or other form of support, or that limits the person’s functional ability to ambulate, climb, descend, sit, rise, or perform any related function.
IX. [“Service dog” means a dog who works for a mobility impaired person or a person with a seizure disorder diagnosed by a physician.] “Service animal” means any dog or monkey, individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals are not service animals for purposes of this definition. The work or tasks performed by a service animal shall be directly related to the master’s disability. Work and tasks may include: assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks; alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds; providing non-violent protection or rescue work; pulling a wheelchair; assisting an individual during a seizure; alerting individuals to the presence of allergens; retrieving items such as medicine or a telephone; providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities; and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disability by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors. The crime determent effect of an animal’s presence and the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship to not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this definition.
X. “Service [dog] animal trainer” means any person who is employed by an organization generally recognized by agencies involved in the rehabilitation of mobility impaired persons as reputable and competent to provide [dogs] service animals with training, and who is actually involved in the training process.
XI. “Search and rescue dog” means any dog which has been trained to perform typical search and rescue operations and is certified by a competent authority or holds a title from a competent authority or organization recognized by the office of the governor, department of safety, department of fish and game, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency or its successor agency.
167-D:2 Private Clubs, etc. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to include or apply to any institution, bona fide club, or place of accommodation, which is in its nature distinctly private; nor shall anything herein contained apply to any educational facility operated or maintained by a bona fide religious or sectarian institution; and the right of a natural parent or one in loco parentis to direct the education and upbringing of a child under his control is hereby affirmed; nor shall anything herein contained be construed to bar any private secondary or postsecondary school from using good faith criteria other than race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry or disability in admission of students.
167-D:3 [Dogs] Animals May Accompany. It is lawful for any hearing ear [dog] animal, guide [dog] animal, or service [dog] animal to accompany his or her deaf or hearing impaired, blind or visually impaired, or mobility impaired master or a master with a seizure disorder diagnosed by a physician into any public facility, housing accommodation, or place of public accommodation to which the general public is invited, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons.
167-D:3-a Application of RSA 167-D:3 to Search and Rescue Dogs. The provisions of RSA 167-D:3 shall also apply to dogs involved in search and rescue missions at the request of a government agency when such dogs are in the course of, or traveling to or from the scene of, their official duties.
167-D:4 Hearing Ear [Dog] Animal, Guide [Dog] Animal, or Service [Dog] Animal Trainer. A hearing ear [dog] animal, guide [dog] animal, or service [dog] animal trainer, while engaged in the actual training process and activities of such [dogs] animals, shall have the same rights and privileges with respect to access to public facilities, and the same responsibilities as are applicable to a deaf or hearing impaired, blind or visually impaired, or mobility impaired person.
167-D:5 Hearing Ear [Dog] Animal, Guide [Dog] Animal, or Service [Dog] Animal Identified.
I. Any deaf or hearing impaired person using a hearing ear [dog] animal shall provide the [dog] animal with a leash and harness colored international orange.
II. Any blind or visually impaired person using a guide [dog] animal shall provide the [dog] animal with a leash and harness designed specifically for this purpose.
III. Any mobility impaired person using a service [dog] animal shall provide the [dog] animal with a leash colored blue and yellow.
167-D:6 Licensing. Hearing ear [dogs, guide dogs and dogs], guide, and service animals that are dogs shall be licensed as provided in RSA 466.
167-D:7 Prohibited Acts.
I. It is unlawful for a person, directly or indirectly, either to prohibit, hinder, or interfere with a visually, hearing, or mobility impaired master who otherwise complies with the limitations applicable to persons with normal hearing, sight, or mobility.
II. It is unlawful for any person to fit a [dog] an animal with a collar, leash, or harness of the type which represents that the [dog] animal is a hearing ear [dog] animal, guide [dog] animal, or service [dog] animal, if in fact said [dog] animal is not and to thus use the [dog] animal to misrepresent the physical status of said person.
III. It is unlawful for any person to willfully interfere or attempt to interfere with a service [dog] animal, as defined in RSA 167-D:1, IX.
167-D:8 Nonuse of Hearing Ear [Dog] Animal, Guide [Dog] Animal, or Service [Dog] Animal. A deaf or hearing impaired, blind or visually impaired, or mobility impaired person not using a [guide dog] service animal in any of the places, accommodations or conveyances listed in RSA 167-D shall have all of the rights and privileges conferred by law upon other persons; and the failure of a deaf or hearing impaired, blind or visually impaired, or mobility impaired person to use a hearing ear [dog] animal, guide [dog] animal, or service [dog] animal in those places, accommodations or conveyances shall not be held to constitute nor be evidence of contributory negligence.
167-D:9 Penalty.
I. Any person violating any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
II. Any person who purposely tortures, beats, kicks, strikes, mutilates, injures, or disables a service [dog] animal, or who purposely causes the death of a service [dog] animal shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
3 Service Animals; Emergency Plans. Amend RSA 21-P:37, VI to read as follows:
VI. To prepare a comprehensive plan and program for the evacuation of hearing ear [dogs] animals, guide [dogs] animals, search and rescue dogs, and other service animals, as defined in RSA 167-D.
4 Service Animals; Access to Public Facilities. Amend RSA 167-C:2 to read as follows:
167-C:2 Access to Public Facilities. The blind, the visually disabled, and the otherwise physically disabled have the same rights and privileges as the able-bodied to the full and free use of the facilities enumerated in RSA 167-D. Every totally or partially blind person shall have the right to be accompanied in such facilities by a guide [dog] animal, especially trained for the purpose, without being required to pay an extra charge for the guide [dog] animal, provided that such person shall be liable for any damage done to the premises or facilities by such [dog] animal.
5 Service Animals; Restaurants and Food Stores. Amend RSA 466:44 to read as follows:
466:44 Restaurants and Food Stores. No person shall bring any animal into any restaurant or any store that sells food; and no person shall allow any animal to enter or remain in any restaurant or in any store that sells food, except for guide [dogs] animals leading blind persons, and [the] hearing ear [dog] animals and [the] service [dog] animals as provided in RSA 167-D. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a violation.
6 Service Animals; Motor Vehicles Approaching. Amend RSA 265:41-a to read as follows:
265:41-a Approaching a Hearing Ear [Dog] Animal. The driver of a vehicle approaching a deaf or hearing impaired person using a properly identified hearing ear [dog] animal shall take all necessary precautions to avoid injury to that person, and any driver who fails to take such precautions shall be liable in damages for any injury caused to that person.
7 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2012.