Wisconsin 2025-2026 Regular Session

Wisconsin Senate Bill SB239 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	2025 - 2026 LEGISLATURE
2	2	LRB-2883/1
3	3	MIM:cdc
4	4	2025 SENATE BILL 239
5	5	May 9, 2025 - Introduced by Senators JAMES and WANGGAARD, cosponsored by
6	6	Representatives GREEN, ANDRACA, MURSAU, O'CONNOR and PIWOWARCZYK.
7	7	Referred to Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
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9	9	*AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE*
10	10	AN ACT to create 106.52 (1) (ce), 106.52 (1) (fe) and 106.52 (3) (as) of the
11	11	statutes; relating to: prohibiting hotels, inns, and motels from discriminating
12	12	against dog handlers who are accompanied by search and rescue dogs.
13	13	Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
14	14	This bill prohibits hotels, inns, and motels from discriminating against dog
15	15	handlers who are accompanied by search and rescue dogs in the provision of
16	16	accommodations.
17	17	Under current law, a public place of accommodation, including a lodging
18	18	establishment, may not refuse entrance into, or use of, or otherwise deny the full
19	19	and equal enjoyment of the establishment to a person with a disability or to a
20	20	service animal trainer because the person is accompanied by a service animal,
21	21	unless accommodation of the service animal would result in a fundamental
22	22	alteration in the nature of the accommodations, goods, or services provided or
23	23	would jeopardize the safe operation of the public accommodation. Also under
24	24	current law, a public accommodation may not charge a person with a disability or a
25	25	trainer a higher price than the regular rate, including a deposit or surcharge, for
26	26	the full and equal enjoyment of the public accommodation because the person is
27	27	accompanied by a service animal, and a public accommodation is prohibited from
28	28	communicating, in writing, that entrance into, the use of, or the full and equal
29	29	enjoyment of the public accommodation will be denied to a person with a disability
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32	32	3 2025 - 2026 Legislature
33	33	SENATE BILL 239
34	34	- 2 - LRB-2883/1
35	35	MIM:cdc
36	36	SECTION 1
37	37	or a trainer because he or she is accompanied by a service animal or that the
38	38	patronage of such a person is unwelcome, objectionable, or unacceptable because he
39	39	or she is accompanied by a service animal.
40	40	In addition, current law requires a public accommodation to modify its
41	41	policies, practices, and procedures to allow the full and equal enjoyment of the
42	42	public accommodation by a person with a disability or a trainer who is accompanied
43	43	by a service animal and requires those policies, practices, and procedures to ensure
44	44	that a person with a disability or a trainer who is accompanied by a service animal
45	45	is not separated from the service animal, that the service animal is allowed to
46	46	accompany the person with a disability or the trainer to all areas of the public
47	47	accommodation that are open to the general public, and that the person with a
48	48	disability or the trainer is not segregated from other patrons of the public
49	49	accommodation.
50	50	This bill provides the same protections for a dog handler who is accompanied
51	51	by a search and rescue dog that is wearing a harness or cape to identify the dog as
52	52	a search and rescue dog in a public accommodation that is a hotel, inn, or motel.
53	53	The bill also provides that a dog handler who is accompanied by a search and rescue
54	54	dog in a hotel, inn, or motel is responsible for any damage the dog causes to the
55	55	establishment.
56	56	The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
57	57	enact as follows:
58	58	SECTION 1. 106.52 (1) (ce) of the statutes is created to read:
59	59	106.52 (1) (ce) XDog handlerY means an individual who is trained to work
60	60	with a search and rescue dog.
61	61	SECTION 2. 106.52 (1) (fe) of the statutes is created to read:
62	62	106.52 (1) (fe) XSearch and rescue dogY means a dog that is trained or is being
63	63	trained by a state or nationally recognized search and rescue agency to locate lost or
64	64	missing individuals and victims of disasters in search and rescue activities.
65	65	SECTION 3. 106.52 (3) (as) of the statutes is created to read:
66	66	106.52 (3) (as) 1. In this paragraph, Xhotel,Y Xinn,Y and XmotelY have the
67	67	meaning given for XhotelY in s. 97.01 (7).
68	68	2. Subject to subds. 3. to 6., no person may do any of the following:
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80	80	SENATE BILL 239
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83	83	SECTION 3
84	84	a. Refuse to allow entrance into, or use of, or otherwise deny the full and equal
85	85	enjoyment of a hotel, inn, or motel to a dog handler because the dog handler is
86	86	accompanied by a search and rescue dog.
87	87	b. Charge an individual a higher price than the regular rate, including a
88	88	deposit or surcharge, for the full and equal enjoyment of a hotel, inn, or motel
89	89	because the individual is a dog handler and is accompanied by a search and rescue
90	90	dog.
91	91	c. Directly or indirectly publish, circulate, display, or mail any written
92	92	communication that the communicator knows is to the effect that entrance into, or
93	93	use of, or the full and equal enjoyment of any of the facilities of the hotel, inn, or
94	94	motel will be denied to an individual because the individual is a dog handler
95	95	accompanied by a search and rescue dog or that the patronage of such an individual
96	96	is unwelcome, objectionable, or unacceptable because the individual is accompanied
97	97	by a search and rescue dog.
98	98	3. The prohibitions specified in subd. 2. apply only if the dog accompanying
99	99	the dog handler is wearing a harness or cape that indicates that the dog is a search
100	100	and rescue dog and the search and rescue dog is leashed. Subdivision 2. does not
101	101	prohibit a dog handler who is accompanied by a dog from being asked whether the
102	102	dog is a search and rescue dog and does not prohibit the dog handler from being
103	103	required to produce a certification or other credential that verifies that the dog is a
104	104	search and rescue dog.
105	105	4. A person may exclude a search and rescue dog from a hotel, inn, or motel if
106	106	accommodation of the search and rescue dog would result in a fundamental
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129	129	23 2025 - 2026 Legislature
130	130	SENATE BILL 239
131	131	- 4 - LRB-2883/1
132	132	MIM:cdc
133	133	SECTION 3
134	134	alteration in the nature of the accommodations provided or would jeopardize the
135	135	safe operation of the hotel, inn, or motel. If a search and rescue dog must be
136	136	separated from the dog handler accompanying the search and rescue dog, it is the
137	137	responsibility of that dog handler to arrange for the care and supervision of the
138	138	search and rescue dog during the period of separation.
139	139	5. A dog handler who is accompanied by a search and rescue dog in a hotel,
140	140	inn, or motel is liable for sanitation with respect to the search and rescue dog and
141	141	damage to the establishment caused by the search and rescue dog.
142	142	6. A hotel, inn, or motel shall modify its policies, practices, and procedures to
143	143	permit the full and equal enjoyment of the hotel, inn, or motel by a dog handler who
144	144	is accompanied by a search and rescue dog. Those policies, practices, and
145	145	procedures shall ensure that a dog handler who is accompanied by a search and
146	146	rescue dog is not separated from the search and rescue dog, that the search and
147	147	rescue dog is allowed to accompany the dog handler to all areas of the hotel, inn, or
148	148	motel that are open to the general public, and that the dog handler is not segregated
149	149	from other patrons of the hotel, inn, or motel.
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