[Ct-nfb] Inspiring Story from Our Arizona Affiliate: Proposed Changes to Service Animal Law Defeated

[Justin Salisbury]

The following message comes from Donald Porterfield, Legislative Coordinator of the NFB of Arizona. I find it so inspiring. This is why we are the National Federation of the Blind.

Justin

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Fellow Federationists:

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 Arizona's 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
donaldpfield at gmail.com<mailto:donaldpfield at gmail.com>
520-850-2180

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