The Briefing-Mar 2016

4 / 14

4
Government Relations Division, Continued
Service Animals
By Gretchen Grigsby
In 2013, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 489, allowing individuals with post-traumatic
stress disorder to utilize a service animal under the same protections as persons with other types of
disabilities.
As a reminder, in accordance with this law and the Americans with Disabilities Act, the person may
only be asked:
 Whether the service animal is required due to a disability, and
 What type of task the service animal is trained to perform.
These tasks may include:
 Guiding a person who has a visual impairment;
 Alerting a person who is hard of hearing or is deaf;
 Reminding a person who has a mental illness to take prescribed medication; or
 Calming a person who has post-traumatic stress disorder.
House Bill 489 also added clarification that service animals are allowed into areas of restaurants,
grocery stores, and other food service establishments that are open to customers and not used to
prepare food.
Violations of this law are punishable by a fine of up to $300 and up to 30 hours of community ser-
vice. It is worth noting that the same penalties apply to a person found to be misrepresenting an ani-
mal as a service animal.
How does all of this play out in real life? Here’s an example:
A woman with no immediately apparent disability walks into a restaurant with a dog. The manager
tells the woman she cannot bring her dog into the restaurant. The woman refuses to leave, and the
police are called.
The correct way to handle this if you are called to respond: ask the questions above of the person
with the animal. The law is clear- the animal is allowed in parts of a restaurant where customers are
allowed and is not used to prepare food. Staff may not request credentials to prove that the animal is
a trained service animal.
Resources:
House Bill 489-
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
Americans with Disabilities Act-