A new bill in the Wisconsin Assembly aims to ensure that service animals are, in fact, service animals.
State Representative Paul Tittl of Manitowoc stated on the WCUB Breakfast Club that anyone can currently go online and purchase a vest for an animal, claiming it is a service animal, which would allow them to be brought into businesses or kept anywhere.
Assembly Bill 327, co-sponsored by Tittl, would allow landlords or owners to require documentation for a service animal, including a prescription form from a licensed health professional.
It would also impose a minimum $200 fine for individuals who intentionally misrepresent a service animal in public to gain entry into a business.
“Federal laws do protect the people that have disabilities, so we’re not looking at taking or changing any of the laws because federal law will still protect it,” he noted. “But we are looking at shoring it up so that the people that really have the service animals are protected.”
Tittl says that some of the training real service dogs undergo can cost up to $100,000.
If they get hurt because of another dog that is not service trained, that will cause problems for actual service animal owners.
Tittl says of the bill, “We’re getting a lot of support and getting a lot of people commenting on this, especially from the disability community because the disability community stands with service animals.”
The bill was introduced in the Wisconsin Senate last Thursday and has only been read once in the Committee on Insurance, Housing, Rural Issues, and Forestry.
The bill must pass the Senate and the Wisconsin Assembly before Governor Tony Evers can sign it.
