Researcher: JP Page 1 3/22/22
OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5232
AN ACT CONCERNING SERVICE ANIMALS.
SUMMARY
This bill generally broadens the applicability of current protections
and provisions related to guide dogs or assistance dogs by replacing
references to guide dogs or assistance dogs with a federal definition for
“service animals.” The federal definition generally includes dogs that
do work or perform tasks for people with various types of disabilities
(see BACKGROUND). The bill also applies certain existing provisions
to service dogs in training. The bill makes these changes in laws on the
following topics:
1. state and quasi-public employee use of paid sick time to attend
service animal training (§ 1);
2. transportation network company drivers (e.g., Uber, Lyft)
accommodating service animals (§ 3);
3. motor vehicle operators’ requirement to yield the right-of-way to
pedestrians with service animals (§ 4);
4. dog licensure and tags issued by town clerks (§ 5);
5. damage done by animals to property or other animals (§§ 6-8);
6. places of public accommodation (§§ 9, 10 & 14);
7. prohibition on use of a service animal by a blind person as
evidence in a negligence action (§ 11); and
8. victim services for crimes involving personal injury (§ 12).
The bill increases the amount of accumulated paid sick leave time a
state employee or a quasi-public agency employee may use to take 2022HB-05232-R000081-BA.DOCX
Researcher: JP Page 2 3/22/22
service animal training from 15 to 20 days. It establishes a similar
requirement for municipal employees.
For both sick leave requirements, the bill applies state definitions of
disability, including intellectual, physical, mental, and learning
disabilities (see BACKGROUND). The bill also applies these definitions
to provisions on dog licensure (§ 5), harmful animals (§§ 6-8), and places
of public accommodation (§§ 9 & 10).
The bill requires the Commission on Human Rights and
Opportunities (CHRO), within available appropriations, to post a link
on its website to educational materials on topics related to service
animals, emotional support animals, and therapy animals.
The bill also makes other minor and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
§§ 1 & 2 — USING SICK TIME FOR SERVICE ANIMAL TRAINING
State and Quasi-Public Employees (§ 1)
Current law allows permanent, full-time state employees and quasi-
public agency employees who are blind or physically disabled to use
accumulated paid sick leave to take guide dog or assistance dog
training. The bill instead allows employees to use the sick time to train
service animals, as defined in federal law, rather than guide dogs or
assistance dogs, and it increases the amount of time employees may use
from 15 to 20 days. The bill broadens eligibility for this benefit to
employees who have a disability, including physical, intellectual,
mental, or learning disabilities as defined in state law (see
BACKGROUND). Under the bill, the training must be conducted by an
organization that trains service animals, rather than a guide dog or
assistance dog association, and belongs to a professional association of
service animal schools. Under existing law, unchanged by the bill, the
benefit is available to employees who have been employed for at least
12 consecutive months; employers may request up to seven days’
advance notice and reasonable documentation.
Municipal Employees (§ 2) 2022HB-05232-R000081-BA.DOCX
Researcher: JP Page 3 3/22/22
The bill creates a new requirement for municipalities that is similar
to the requirement described above for state and quasi-public agency
employees. The bill requires municipalities to allow full-time employees
in permanent positions to use up to 20 days of accumulated sick leave
to take a service animal training provided by an organization that trains
service animals and belongs to a professional organization of service
animal schools. To qualify, an employee must (1) have been employed
for at least 12 consecutive months and (2) have a disability, including a
physical, intellectual, mental, or learning disability, as defined in state
law (see BACKGROUND). Under the bill, the municipality’s chief
elected official or chief executive officer may require up to seven days’
advance notice of an employee’s intention to use leave for this purpose
and may require the employee to provide reasonable documentation
that the leave is taken for this purpose.
§ 5 — DOG LICENSURE AND TAGS
Current law requires town clerks to provide a license and tag for any
dog that (1) belongs to or is kept by any blind, deaf, or mobility-
impaired person and (2) has been trained and educated to guide and
assist the person with traveling on public streets. The bill instead
requires town clerks to provide a license and tag for a trained service
animal owned or kept by a person with a disability, including an
intellectual, physical, mental, or learning disability.
Current law prohibits town clerks from licensing dogs that have not
been licensed before without written evidence that the dog is trained,
educated, and intended to perform guide service for the applicant. The
bill instead allows the clerk, in cases where the dog has not been licensed
before and it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal, to ask the
dog’s owner or keeper whether the dog is a service animal required
because of a disability and what work or task the dog has been trained
to do. (The bill does not establish factors or characteristics that would
make it obvious that a dog is a service animal.)
§§ 6-8 — HARMFUL ANIMALS
By law, if a dog does any damage to a person’s property, the dog’s
owner or keeper is generally liable for it. Under current law, when a 2022HB-05232-R000081-BA.DOCX
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companion animal is damaged by another dog, this amount includes the
fair monetary value of the companion animal, including all training
expenses for a guide dog owned by a blind person or assistance dog
owned by a deaf or mobility-impaired person. Under the bill, the
animal’s fair monetary value includes all training expenses for a service
animal owned by a person with a disability.
In certain circumstances, current law requires a dog’s owner or
keeper to restrain and control the dog on a leash when the dog is near a
blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired person accompanied by a guide dog
wearing a harness or an orange-colored leash and collar making it
readily identifiable as a guide dog. The bill expands this requirement to
instead apply to people with disabilities accompanied by a service
animal wearing a harness or vest readily identifying the animal and
makes conforming changes.
By law, animal control officers may make orders about the restraint
or disposal of any biting dog or other animal. Current law exempts from
these provisions guide dogs owned or in the custody or control of a
blind person or a person with a mobility impairment, as long as the dog
meets certain other requirements. The bill instead exempts service
animals owned or in the custody or control of a person with a disability.
By law, unchanged by the bill, the exemption applies when the animal
is under direct supervision, care, and control of the person; is currently
vaccinated; and receives routine veterinary care.
§§ 9, 10 & 14 — PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION
The bill broadens the law covering service animals on public
transportation and places of public accommodation. Under current law,
any blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired person or any person training a
dog may travel on public transportation (e.g., trains), enter places of
public accommodation (e.g., restaurants), or visit someone’s home with
their guide or assistance dog or dog in training and keep the dog with
them at no extra charge as long as the dog is in the person’s direct
custody and wears a harness or orange-colored leash and collar. Current
law also prohibits extra fees for people with guide or assistance dogs
unless the fee applies to all guests. Dog owners are liable for any 2022HB-05232-R000081-BA.DOCX
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damages the dog does to the premises or facilities. Additionally, anyone
who intentionally interferes with a blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired
person’s use of a guide dog or assistance dog or who denies the rights
afforded to the person is guilty of a class C misdemeanor.
The bill applies these provisions to anyone with an intellectual,
physical, mental, or learning disability and to service animals as defined
in federal law, rather than guide dogs and assistance dogs (see
BACKGROUND), as well as service animals in training. The bill
eliminates requirements that animals wear a harness or an orange-
colored leash and animals in training be identified through tags, tattoos,
bandanas, coats, leashes, or collars.
Current law similarly makes it a discriminatory practice to deny a
blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired person accompanied by a guide dog
or assistance dog, or a dog in training, full and equal access to any place
of public accommodation, resort, or amusement. The bill expands this
to people with intellectual, physical, mental, or learning disabilities and
their service animals or service animals in training. The bill also makes
it a discriminatory practice for these places to refuse entry to a person
with a disability who is with a service animal.
The bill removes a provision making it a discriminatory practice for
a place of public accommodation, resort, or amusement to fail or refuse
to post a notice that blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired people with their
guide dog wearing a harness or an orange-colored leash and collar may
enter the facilities. By law, violations are class D misdemeanors (CGS §
46a-64(c)).
The bill allows a place of public accommodation, resort, or
amusement, when it is not obvious what service an animal provides, to
ask a service animal’s owner or keeper (1) whether the animal is a
service animal required because of a disability and (2) what work or task
the animal has been trained to perform. Under the bill, provisions about
discriminatory practices do not preclude a business owner’s ability to
recover for damage caused to a person or property by a service animal.
§ 13 — CHRO EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS 2022HB-05232-R000081-BA.DOCX
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The bill requires CHRO, within available appropriations, to link on
its website to educational materials on the following topics:
1. the differences between service animals, emotional support
animals, and therapy animals;
2. an owner’s rights and responsibilities for each type of animal
under state and federal law; and
3. permissible methods under state and federal law for a landlord
or an owner of a place of public accommodation, resort, or
amusement to determine whether an animal is a service animal,
emotional support animal, or therapy animal.
The bill does not include a deadline for CHRO to post this
information.
BACKGROUND
Service Animal Definition
Under federal law, “service animal” means any dog that is
individually trained to do work or perform tasks to benefit an
individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric,
intellectual, or other mental disability. This definition excludes other
species of animals. Work or tasks performed by a service animal must
be directly related to the individual’s disability and include the
following:
1. assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with
navigation,
2. alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the
presence of people or sounds,
3. providing non-violent protection or rescue work,
4. pulling a wheelchair,
5. assisting an individual during a seizure, 2022HB-05232-R000081-BA.DOCX
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6. alerting individuals to the presence of allergens,
7. retrieving medicine or other items,
8. providing physical support and assistance with balance and
stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, and
9. helping people with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by
preventing or interrupting impulsive destructive behaviors.
Service animal tasks and work do not include (1) crime deterrent
effects of the animal’s presence and (2) providing emotional support,
well-being, comfort, or companionship (28 C.F.R. § 35.104).
Disability Definition
Under state law, an intellectual disability is a significant limitation in
intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive
behavior that originated during the developmental period before 18
years of age (CGS § 1-1g).
A physically disabled person is one who has a chronic physical
handicap, infirmity, or impairment, whether congenital or resulting
from bodily injury, organic processes, or changes from illness, including
epilepsy, deafness or being hard of hearing, or reliance on a wheelchair
or other remedial appliance or device (CGS § 46a-51(15)).
A mental disability refers to an individual who has a record of, or is
regarded as having, one or more mental disorders as defined in the most
recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (CGS § 46a-51(20)).
A learning disability refers to an individual who exhibits a severe
discrepancy between educational performance and measured
intellectual ability and who exhibits a disorder in one or more of the
basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using
spoken or written language, which may manifest itself in a diminished
ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations
(CGS § 46a-51(19)). 2022HB-05232-R000081-BA.DOCX
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COMMITTEE ACTION
Human Services Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 20 Nay 0 (03/08/2022)