[NFB-Idaho] Draft Legislation

[Dana Ard]

Thank you. I hope you do not see me as a negative force in this legislation.
I'm not. I know the law needs to be updated and I think this legislation is
a good start. I know there will be lots of discussion and probably some
changes if it goes through legislation. Thank you.

 

From: Cheryl Bloom [mailto:cgbloom at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2018 5:23 AM
To: Dana Ard
Cc: NFB of Idaho Discussion List; president at nfbidaho.org
Subject: Re: Draft Legislation

 

Thank you for these questions and let me answer them for you:  

 

 

1) why a person without a disability training a service dog has to display a
card?    The intent of this legislation is to distinguish between rights and
privileges.    A disabled person has rights and a person without a
disability would have privileges.   The ID card would identify the training
organization and the name of the person without the disability who was
allowed to train under their authority.    

 

2) How do we handle individuals, who may be private trainers, training
service dogs? I do know of such cases.    Individuals must adhere to state
law.    Ignorance of the law does not give one a free pass.    We are not
the service dog police nor are we the legal authority as individuals.   We
can only do the best we can with the tools we have.     Our current statutes
do not even come close to allowing our law enforcement agencies or agents to
address even simple infractions of the law so how can we expect to ever get
anything done if we don't attempt to bring all our statutes up to the
current level of consistency by including all disabilities and current
definitions of service dogs.    

Right now our current statute does not include all disabilities nor the
correct definition of service dog.   It is not consistent throughout the
code with language to help our enforcing agencies to know what to do when
there is an infraction so accordingly no enforcement is done.     

There is a shortage of qualified trainers in the State of Idaho.    There is
a shortage of trainers period in the State of Idaho to help train dogs,
whether they be service dogs; companion animals; or dogs in training under
the guidance of an individual with a disability.    We need clear and
concise language to help US as well as the businesses so they know their
rights better.    This is about helping us to help them.    Private trainers
need guidance as well.      We have attempted to approach many of them but
without better language in our statutes, we cannot expect to persuade anyone
to adhere to a law that doesn't support better business and more Idahoans.
What we have on the books right now shuts out too many people.      

 

3) Also, this may sound obvious but, how do we define housebroken? If a dog
in training has an accident due to some cause, like food that didn't agree
etc. is the dog considered to not be house broken?   Accidents happen and as
long as the handler takes effective action to clean up it should not be
considered "not housebroken."   If the dog is ill, this is never to taken
against the dog as not being housebroken.   This topic was discussed during
one of the DOJ hearings regarding the housebroken and the dog being
housebroken and accidents in places of public accommodation.   I would be
more than happy to quote that testimony.   

In my opinion, any dog, in training or not, might have an accident due to
being ill.    This is not something that would be related solely to a dog in
training.   I am sure many of us have had dogs sick in public.     All a
person has to do is get the attention of a qualified person to help them
clean it up, and the problem is solved.   The problem lies with not letting
janitorial/maintenance people know there has been an accident.    



4)  Why is the training organization, rather than the individual, liable for
damages?     This was a requirement from previous input and part and parcel
of the "training organization, non disabled handler privilege" section of
the statute.   

5) We still don't have an entity that will be the authority on crimes
against guide dogs. This may be too sticky to get into in this legislation.


There is an entity who does have the authority to act on crimes against all
service dogs in the State of Idaho:   Under Title 18, the prosecutor of each
county, and the Attorney General of the State of Idaho has this authority.


  

I hope I have answered your questions.    If you have more, please do not
hesitate to contact me.   

Cheryl Bloom

on behalf of the proposing committee

 

  _____  

From: Dana Ard <Danalynard at q.com>
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2018 7:30 PM
To: 'Cheryl Bloom'
Cc: NFB of Idaho Discussion List; president at nfbidaho.org
Subject: RE: Draft Legislation 

 

I needed to have the time to thoroughly read and understand the proposed
legislation. This looks good to me. My only questions are why a person
without a disability training a service dog has to display a card? How do we
handle individuals, who may be private trainers, training service dogs? I do
know of such cases. Also, this may sound obvious but, how do we define
housebroken? If a dog in training has an accident due to some cause, like
food that didn't agree etc. is the dog considered to not be house broken?
Why is the training organization, rather than the individual, liable for
damages? We still don't have an entity that will be the authority on crimes
against guide dogs. This may be too sticky to get into in this legislation.
I think this proposed legislation is clear and well written. 

 

From: Cheryl Bloom [mailto:cgbloom at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2018 8:58 AM
To: Dana Ard; Dana Gover
Subject: Draft Legislation

 

Dear Dana

 

I am attaching the draft service dog legislation for you . 

 

There are 3 attachments.   

 

The first attachment is the proposed draft bill.   It is in word format and
has a watermark draft as well as the words draft on each page.    There are
no strike throughs or color coded words on this draft.   

The second and third attachments are in pdf format and are Title 56 and
Title 18 Idaho Statutes currently in full force and effect in Idaho.   
Please let me know if you receive these 3 attachments.  

Thank you

Cheryl Bloom