[Coagdu] FW: [nagdu] Fwd: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Proposed Changes to Service Animal Law Defeated
melissa R green
graduate56 at juno.com
Sat Feb 21 04:55:40 UTC 2015
This law was defeated. Read on.
Blessings,
Melissa R. Green and Pj
Listen to God with a broken heart. He is not only the doctor who mends it,
but also the father who wipes away the tears.
-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David Andrews via
nagdu
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 10:34 PM
To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Fwd: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Proposed Changes to
Service Animal Law Defeated
>This message was posted to our private list for Legislative Directors
>and helps answer the question: why the NFB?
Dave
>On Tuesday, February 18, the National Federation of the Blind of
>Arizona and other disability groups were alerted that an amended bill
>was scheduled for a committee hearing in the Arizona House of
>Representatives at 9:00 a.m. on the 19th. The bill (HB 2179) included a
>Strike-all
>amendment, which meant that the original language of the bill would be
>replaced with new and unrelated language. If the bill were passed out
>of committee and subsequently passed into law, it would have
>fundamentally altered Arizonas service animal law (A.R.S. §11-1024).
>Proposed changes would have:
>
> * Required that individuals who use service animals obtain a permit
> from the Arizona Department of health Services in order to take their
> service animal in to a public place and that such permit be renewed on
> a regular basis.
> * As part of the permit process, an individual will be required to
> apply to the Department of Health Services and provide documentation
> from a medical professional certifying the applicant has a disability.
> * Required that a service animal wear a vest, also issued by the
> Department of Health Services at all times when in a public place.
> This vest will display permit information.
> * Allowed restaurants to block access for persons with service
> animals in order to meet local and or state health code regulations.
> * Required the Department of Health services develop a sign for
> restaurants to display indicating that service animals are not
> permitted and that a separate sign for other public businesses not
> serving food be created that indicates service animals are allowed.
> * Required the Arizona Department of Health Services to petition
> the United States Department of Justice requesting that the Americans
> with Disabilities Act be updated to comply with state law.
>
>The National Federation of the Blind of Arizona and several other
>disability groups reacted quickly and organized an effective response
>to the proposed legislation. NFBA has an active legislative committee,
>and along with members from the Tucson, Phoenix and East Valley
>chapters and its new guide dog division appeared at the Arizona state
>Capitol building prior to the start of the meeting in order to register
>as many people as possible to speak against the bill in the committee
>hearing. In addition, the legislative committee appealed to members
>that could not personally attend the meeting and asked them to email
>the committee chair and other committee members urging them to vote
>against the legislation. We were able to send out approximately thirty
>emails before the committee hearing started.
>
>During the hearing, the committee chair made it clear that his intent
>was not to pass legislation that imposed greater restrictions on
>persons with disabilities that require the use of service animals. He
>intended to craft a bill that punished bad actors, or those
>individuals who masquerade their pets as service animals for the sole
>purpose of taking them into places that prohibit pets. This intent was
>not evident in the wording of the bill.
>
>Many members of the NFBA and the other disability groups testified in
>opposition to the bill. All testimony given by the public indicated
>that the stated intent differed from that of the actual bill and that,
>as written, this bill violated the Americans with Disability Act.
>Testimony suggested that rather than advance a bad bill, a bill
>should be written that focused on the bad actors rather than persons
>with disabilities.
>
>Due to effective grass-roots advocacy by the NFBA and the other
>disability groups this bill was defeated with a unanimous vote of 8
>0. The committee members who commented on their votes cited the
>testimony given by the public as strongly influencing their votes.
>
>My thanks and gratitude goes out to everyone who participated in the
>committee hearing, sent emails and made phone calls.
>
>Donald Porterfield, Esq.
>First Vice President and Legislative Director National Federation of
>the Blind of Arizona
><mailto:donaldpfield at gmail.com>donaldpfield at gmail.com
>520-850-2180
David Andrews and long white cane Harry.
E-Mail: dandrews at visi.com or david.andrews at nfbnet.org
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