<html><body><font face="Helvetica"><br><br>Sent from Xfinity Connect Mobile App</font><blockquote><br>------ Original Message ------<br><br><b>From: </b>David Andrews via Chapter-presidents<br><b>To: </b>david andrews<br><b>Sent: </b>February 19, 2015 at 9:38 PM<br><b>Subject: </b>[Chapter-presidents] Fwd: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Proposed Changes to Service Animal Law Defeated</blockquote><blockquote><html><html>
<body>
<blockquote class="cite" cite="">This message was posted to our
private list for Legislative Directors and helps answer the
question: why the NFB?</blockquote><br><br>
Dave<br><br>
<br><br>
<blockquote class="cite" cite="">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
19<sup>th</sup>. 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:<br>
<ul>
<li>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.
<li>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.
<li>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.
<li>Allowed restaurants to block access for persons with service animals
in order to meet local and or state health code regulations.
<li>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.
<li>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.
</ul> <br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
My thanks and gratitude goes out to everyone who participated in the
committee hearing, sent emails and made phone calls.<br>
<br>
Donald Porterfield, Esq.<br>
First Vice President and Legislative Director<br>
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona<br>
<a href="mailto:donaldpfield@gmail.com" >donaldpfield@gmail.com</a><br>
520-850-2180<br>
</blockquote>
<p>
David
Andrews and long white cane Harry.<br>
E-Mail: dandrews@visi.com or david.andrews@nfbnet.org<br>
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