[nagdu] Lawmaker relents on plan to bar service animals fromrestaurants

[L Gwizdak]

Ginger,
The link to this article doesn't work.  Can you get the correct one and 
repost please?  I wanted to put it on Facebook.

Lyn and Oliver
"Asking who's the man and who's the woman in an LGBT relationship is like 
asking which chopstick is the fork" - Unknown
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ginger Kutsch via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2015 7:02 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Lawmaker relents on plan to bar service animals 
fromrestaurants


> Lawmaker relents on plan to bar service animals from restaurants - Your 
> West
> Valley
>
> News: Valley & State
>
> Capitol Media Services/Howard Fischer
>
> [From:
> http://www.yourwestvalley.com/valleyandstate/article_05476d1e-b87f-11e4-80aa
> -c38c4f52535f.html]
>
> Amy Porterfield, Dusty
>
> Amy Porterfield and Dusty wait their turn Thursday to tell members of a
> House panel why lawmakers should not let restaurant owners keep out 
> service
> animals and, by extension, their owners. (Capitol Media Services photo by
> Howard Fischer)
>
> Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2015 2:33 pm  By Howard Fischer Capitol 
> Media
> Services  PHOENIX -- Facing a wave of criticism and legal questions, a
> Flagstaff Republican lawmaker gave up Thursday -- at least for now -- on 
> his
> proposal to let restaurant owners keep out service animals and the people
> who need them.
>
> Rep. Bob Thorpe even agreed after extensive testimony in opposition to 
> vote
> against his own legislation. HB 2179 died with a unanimous vote in
> opposition.
>
> But Thorpe said he still believes there is a problem with those who claim
> the right to take Rex or Spot or Fluffy wherever they go. And Thorpe said 
> he
> hopes to resurrect the proposal in some form "sometime in the future.''
>
> The only question is whether he can do that without running afoul of 
> federal
> law.
>
> "Throughout the state we have bad actors,'' Thorpe said. "These are people
> that are pretending to be disabled so they can bring, for example, a 
> family
> pet into locations that our health code would normally not allow.''
>
> His solution in HB 2179 was to have state health officials issue permits,
> complete with photos of owners and the dog or horse, to service animals
> which are trained to assist people with disabilities.
>
> Donald Porterfield of the National Federation for the Blind said Arizona
> can't do that. He said the Americans with Disabilities Act says people
> cannot be required to certify or disclose the nature of their 
> disabilities.
>
> But the real heartburn -- and the real legal flaw -- in Thorpe's proposal
> was language which would have let restaurant owners say they want no 
> animals
> at all, no matter what. Larry Wanger, executive director of the Arizona
> Statewide Independent Living Council, said there's no basis for that.
>
> "It's not a health issue,'' he said. "There aren't dogs running around in
> the back of the restaurant.''
>
> Instead, Wanger said, it opens the door to discrimination.
>
> "It simply allows me as a restaurant owner to say, 'I don't like dogs,' ''
> he said.
>
> Chianne Hewer of the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association said
> what it also would do is put restaurant owners at risk of violating the 
> ADA
> which says pretty plainly that places of public accommodation -- including
> restaurants
>
> -- can't turn
>
> away someone solely because he or she has a service animal.
>
> Amy Porterfield, a guide-dog user for 20 years, testified that the federal
> law already gives restaurants legal options.
>
> She said the owner can inquire if the service animal supports a disability
> -- though not what the disability is -- and can ask if the animal has been
> trained. And she said federal law permits a business to eject an animal if
> it behaves badly.
>
> Thorpe continued to insist that it wasn't his intent to interfere with the
> rights of the disabled, insisting he was trying to help them by ensuring
> those who had been certified would get fewer questions. And he promised 
> that
> if the House Government and Higher Education Committee approved this 
> measure
> he would make changes as the measure went to the full House.
>
> Foes, however, weren't buying it -- or willing to trust that the measure
> would get better.
>
> "While your intent may have been to help this community, that's not what
> your words say,'' said Sarah Kader, attorney with the Arizona Center for
> Disability Law.
>
> Rep. Randall Friese, D-Tucson, agreed, voting to kill the proposal now.
>
> He called the health risks of a service dog "negligible.'' And Friese said
> Thorpe's proposal would cause more harm than good.
>
> "I would much rather tolerate a few bad actors than to impinge upon the
> rights of people with disabilities,'' he said.
>
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