Do Service Dogs Need To Licensed & Insured

SERVICE DOGS AND THE LAW

By: Kevin East. McCarthy, Principal Analyst

QUESTIONS Does Connecticut police force or the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) crave proof that a dog is being used to aid a person with disabilities to exist afforded the protections allowed service dogs and their owners? Is there any Connecticut law on falsely claiming that an beast is a service canis familiaris? Practise other states accept such laws? Has at that place been any Connecticut legislation on registering service dogs?

This report addresses only the ADA and non other federal laws, notably the Off-white Housing Act, that have provisions regarding the apply of service dogs.

SUMMARY

Connecticut law requires public accommodations to let people who are blind, deaf, or mobility impaired to use service dogs to help them. The ADA has similar provisions simply covers a wider range of disabilities, including mental and psychiatric disabilities.

Connecticut constabulary does not crave a person using a service dog to prove that the dog is beingness used to help with disabilities in gild to be afforded the protections allowed to people using service dogs. Like other dogs, the service dog must be licensed and accept a tag. If the dog has not been previously licensed, the possessor must present documentation that the canis familiaris has been appropriately trained every bit a service dog to get a license. The ADA as well does not crave such proof and its implementing regulations limit the types of questions that people working in the private and public facilities it covers can ask about the dog or its possessor.

There is no Connecticut constabulary on falsely claiming that a dog is a service dog. California, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, N Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Washington take such laws. In about cases, the offense is a misdemeanor. In some cases, these laws appear to conflict with the ADA, for example by limiting the apply of service dogs to people with physical disabilities. To the extent there is a conflict, it would appear that the ADA would supersede the state police.

Nosotros have found no Connecticut legislation on establishing a service dog registry.

PROTECTIONS FOR SERVICE DOGS

Connecticut

Connecticut law has two provisions ( C GS �� 46a-44 and 46a-64 ) protecting people with specified disabilities who use guide or aid dogs to help them, as well as people who train dogs for these purposes. (Generally, in Connecticut constabulary, guide dogs help blind people, while assistance dogs help deaf or mobility-impaired people.)

CGS � 46a-44 entitles whatever blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired person using, or any person training, a guide or assistance canis familiaris to:

1. enter any public building or place of public accommodation that caters or offers its services or facilities or goods to the general public (e.k., a restaurant or hotel);

two. keep the dog with him or her at all times at no actress accuse;

three. travel on a railroad train or on whatsoever other manner of public transportation; and

4. visit, with his or her dog, (a) whatever place of public adaptation or (b) a habitation as a invitee of a lawful occupant.

CGS � 46a-64 prohibits public accommodations from denying full and equal access to any blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired person or any person preparation a guide or assistance canis familiaris, accompanied past his or her domestic dog. The facility must post a sign saying that anyone with these disabilities may enter with a dog wearing a harness or an orange-colored leash and collar. The person with disabilities or who is training the dog is liable for any damage the dog does to the bounds or facilities.

To exist covered past these provisions, a person preparation the dog must be employed and authorized to engage in preparation activities by a guide or assistance domestic dog organization that complies with criteria for membership in a professional person association of guide dog or help dog schools. The trainer also must bear photographic identification indicating this employment and authorisation.

For both provisions, the dog must (1) be in the direct custody of the person with disabilities or the trainer and (2) wear a harness or an orange-colored leash and collar. CGS � 46a-44 additionally covers a person who volunteers for such organizations that authorizes volunteers to raise such dogs and accordingly identifies the dog with:

1. tags,

two. ear tattoos,

iii. identifying bandanas (on puppies),

4. identifying coats (on adult dogs), or

five. leashes and collars.

ADA

The ADA prohibits discrimination against, and ensures equal opportunity for, persons with disabilities in public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and state and local government services. Under the human activity, a person with a disability is someone who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits 1 or more than major life activities, (2) has a history or tape of such an damage, or (3) is perceived by others equally having such an impairment. Public accommodations are businesses that are generally open to the public, such as stores, restaurants, theaters, schools, and day care and recreation facilities.

U.South. Department of Justice regulations implementing the ADA require public accommodations to change their policies, practices, or procedures to let an individual with a disability to use a service animal (28 CFR � 36.302(c)(1)). The regulations define a service animate being every bit a domestic dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities (28 CFR � 35.104, 28 CFR � 36.104). The disability can be physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or mental. In add-on to guiding people who are blind, service animals can alert a person who is deaf, pull a wheelchair, alert and protect a person who is having a seizure, remind a person with mental illness to accept prescribed medications, calm a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder during an anxiety attack, or perform other duties. The work or job a domestic dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person ' s inability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not authorize every bit service animals nether the ADA.

Nether the ADA, service dogs must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the canis familiaris ' s work or the individual ' due south disability prevents using these devices. A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his or her service dog from the premises unless: (1) the canis familiaris is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (two) the dog is not housebroken.

PROVING THAT A DOG IS Existence USED TO HELP PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Connecticut Law

Connecticut police does not require proof that a dog is existence used to help a person with disabilities in order for it and its owner to be afforded the protections allowed nether the law. Yet, CGS � 22-345 requires a blind or deaf person or person with mobility impairments who owns or keeps a guide dog to obtain a domestic dog license and tag from the town clerk where the domestic dog is owned or kept. If the clerk has not previously licensed the dog, the owner must present written evidence that the dog is trained and educated and intended in fact to perform guide service for the owner. Any person who has a domestic dog placed with him or her temporarily by a nonprofit organization that trains or educates guide dogs must obtain a dog license and tag from the town clerk where the dog is owned. The person who temporarily cares for the canis familiaris must present written show that the organization placed the canis familiaris with him or her.

Federal Police force

Under the ADA regulations, staff at facilities subject area to the ADA can ask just two questions: (1) is the canis familiaris a service creature required considering of a disability and (two) what work or task has the domestic dog been trained to perform? Staff cannot ask nigh the person ' s disability, crave medical documentation, or ask that the canis familiaris demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task. Nor can they require documentation, such as proof that the dog has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service canis familiaris (28 CFR � 35.136, 28 CFR � 36.302). With regard to facilities covered past the ADA, information technology appears that, under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, these provisions would supplant state laws requiring dog owners to provide such documentation.

Further information on the ADA regulations is available at http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm .

MAKING Imitation CLAIMS

In that location is no Connecticut law on making claims that an fauna is a service dog, just 14 other states accept such laws.

California

Anyone who knowingly and fraudulently represents himself or herself, through verbal or written discover, to be the owner or trainer of dog licensed as, to be qualified as, or identified as, a guide, signal, or service domestic dog is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the canton jail for upwardly to 6 months, by a fine of up to $one,000, or both ( Cal. Penal Cod east � 365.seven ).

Idaho

Whatsoever person who does not have a disability or is not being trained to assistance disabled persons who uses an assistance dog in an attempt to gain treatment or benefits as a disabled person is guilty of a misdemeanor ( Idaho Code � 18-5811A ) .

Kansas

Information technology is a class A misdemeanor for any person to represent that he or she (1) has the correct to be accompanied by an assistance or therapy dog or (2) has a disability for the purpose of acquiring an assistance dog unless he or she has a disability ( Kan. Stat. Ann. � 39-1112 ).

Maine

A person who fits a dog with a harness, collar, vest, or sign of the type commonly used by blind or disabled persons to represent that the dog is a service dog when the dog (ane) has not received the type of training that guide dogs normally receive or (2) does non meet the definition of "service dog" can be fined upward to $500 ( 17 Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. � 1314-A ).

Michigan

A person who is not deaf, audibly impaired, or otherwise physically limited may not apply or possess a canis familiaris that is wearing a blaze orangish leash and collar or harness in any public place. Violation is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $x ( Mich. Code � 752.61 - 63 ).

Missouri

Whatsoever person who knowingly impersonates a person with a inability for the purpose of receiving the accommodations regarding service dogs nether the ADA is guilty of a course C misdemeanor and is likewise civilly liable for the amount of whatever actual damages resulting from the impersonation. Whatever second or subsequent violation of this section is a course B misdemeanor ( V. A. M. South. � 209.204 ).

Nebraska

The use of a guide domestic dog by someone who is not bullheaded is a Class III misdemeanor ( Neb. Rev. St. � 28-1313 ).

Nevada

Any person who is non bullheaded or deaf, or has no other type of concrete disability who uses a service fauna is guilty of a misdemeanor ( Nev. Rev. Stat. � 426.510 ) . In addition, it is a misdemeanor punishable past a fine of upwardly to $500 for a person to fraudulently misrepresent an animate being as a service animal or service animal-in- training ( Nev. Rev. Stat. � 426.805 ) .

New Hampshire

It is unlawful for any person to fit an animal with a (1) neckband, ternion, or harness of the type which represents that the beast is a service brute or (2) service animal tag if in fact the creature is not and to thus apply it to misrepresent the person ' south physical status ( N.H. Rev. Stat. � 167-D:8 ) . Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor ( N.H. Rev. Stat. � 167-D:10 ).

New Jersey

Anyone who fits a domestic dog with a harness of the type commonly used past bullheaded persons to represent that their dog is a guide dog when in fact it is not trained as a guide dog is field of study to a $100 to $500 fine ( N.J. Stat. Ann. �ten:five-29.five ) .

New United mexican states

New United mexican states passed legislation in 2013 making information technology a misdemeanor to knowingly falsely claim that a dog is a "qualified service canis familiaris." A qualified service dog is i that has been trained or is being trained to work or perform tasks to benefit an individual with a disability who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits ane or more than major life activities. The definition excludes emotional support, comfort, and therapy dogs, which do non work or perform tasks for an private with a inability and does not accompany the individual at all times ( Northward.Thousand. Stat � 28-11-6 ).

New York

It is a violation for anyone to knowingly braze to any dog any faux or improper special tag for identifying guide, service, or hearing dogs. A beginning offense is punishable by a fine of not less than $25. A second offense inside 5 years is punishable by a fine of not less than $50 and a third offense inside 5 years is punishable past a fine of non less than $100, imprisonment for not more than than 15 days, or both ( N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law � 118 ).

North Carolina

It is a class iii misdemeanor to disguise a dog every bit an aid domestic dog ( N.C. Gen. Stat. � 168-4.5 ) .

Texas

A person who uses an assistance animal with the type of harness or ternion commonly used by persons with disabilities to correspond that his or her animate being is a peculiarly trained aid fauna when not trained every bit such is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of upwards to $200 ( Tex. Human Resources Code � 121.006 ).

Utah

A person is guilty of a class B misdemeanor if he or she intentionally and knowingly (i) falsely represents to another person that an creature is a service creature or (two) misrepresents a cloth fact to a health care provider to obtain the documentation from the provider required to designate an creature equally a service animal ( Utah Code Ann. 1953 � 62A-5b-106 ).

Washington

Information technology is a misdemeanor for any pedestrian who is not totally or partially bullheaded, hearing impaired, or otherwise physically disabled to use a guide dog or other service animal in any public accommodation or means of transportation to secure the rights and privileges afforded to physically disabled people ( W's Rev. Code Wash. � seventy.84.060 ).

KM:ts

Do Service Dogs Need To Licensed & Insured,

Source: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2014/rpt/2014-R-0025.htm

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