Georgia lawmakers consider punishing people who use fake service animals

Service animals are used by thousands of people to help them get around, notice sounds or people, assist during medical emergencies, and to provide security and companionship. Businesses and public places allow (with some exceptions) people with disabilities to bring service animals inside to help them, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But some people are taking advantage of this by bringing their untrained, personal pets into businesses or public buildings and then claiming the pet is a service animal, a lawmaker says.

Now the Georgia legislature has created a committee to study the problem and determine whether a crackdown on the practice is possible.State Senator Renee Unterman (R-Buford) filed SR-467 calling for the committee.

“Some individuals take their pets with them to public accommodations and facilities claiming such pet is a service animal when, in actuality, such pet is a ‘fake service animal,’” the resolution reads.

“There is no state or federal certification process to ensure that an animal is actually a service animal.”

Unterman says this puts restaurants and hotels in a difficult position.

If a service animal is legitimate, it will be trained in how to behave in an unusual or unfamiliar space. If it is a fake service animal, it may cause a disruption or safety hazard.

But how would you tell?

“These are highly trained dogs that cost a lot of money, and when you start mixing them with dogs who get a fake vest over the internet, you’re endangering the person,” Unterman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

When people bring fake service dogs into a business, and those dogs misbehave because they are untrained, legitimate service animals get a poor reputation, advocates say.

"I am concerned. I do want to make sure that people who do not have a legitimate need for a service dog to not put my right in jeopardy,” Dawn Alford, a lobbyist with the Georgia Council on Development Disabilities who uses a wheelchair and service animal to get around the state capitol, told WXIA.

It is true that there is no actual certification process for service animals. Various organization sell a meaningless certification online or purport to keep a “database” of verified service dogs.

Some openly encourage people to use the service specifically so they can avoid pet fees from landlords.

None of these are sanctioned by the state or federal government. A quick Amazon.com search pulls up pages of service dog vests, tags and ID cards available for purchase, further muddying the waters.

It’s illegal at this junction to ask for any sort of proof that a service animal has been trained or licensed as a a condition for entering an entity covered by ADA protection. It is illegal for cities to require mandatory registration of service animals as well.

“There are individuals and organizations that sell service animal certification or registration documents online. These documents do not convey any rights under the ADA and the Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that the dog is a service animal,” the ADA website reads.

Those online registries are useful for other purposes - like for helping keep track of service animals in case they are lost or if emergency personnel need to know a service animal may be needed - but they hold no legal weight.

“It would be beneficial to examine these issues, including whether there is a need for a uniform certification process or the issuance of information cards, whether there is a1 need to criminalize the use of a ‘fake service animal,’ or whether the rights of trainers of service animals should be clarified, and to determine if legislative action is needed on any of these issues,” the resolution in Georgia ends.

The resolution passed and has moved on in the process, meaning a report on the issue is likely to be presented at some point in the future.

The proposal in the legislature has just gotten started and has no details yet on any proposed consequences or other fines, but it’s not without precedent - 19 other states have passed measures criminalizing the misrepresentation of a service animal.

The laws are difficult to enforce, and the fines are low, David Favre, a professor at Michigan State University College of Law, told PBS, but he conceded that their value is in “(scaring) some people into being honest.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Georgia lawmakers consider punishing people who use fake service animals."