HB 0153

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to individuals with disabilities; amending
3	s. 413.08, F.S.; providing definitions; providing that an
4	individual with a disability has full and equal access to
5	and enjoyment of public accommodations and state and local
6	facilities, programs, services, and activities; providing
7	that an individual with a disability may be accompanied by
8	a service animal in places of public accommodation and in
9	state and local facilities; directing that documentation
10	that a service animal is trained may not be a precondition
11	for providing service to an individual accompanied by a
12	service animal; requiring that a service animal be given
13	access to all areas of a government facility or public
14	accommodation that the public or customers are normally
15	permitted to occupy; prohibiting segregating an individual
16	with a service animal from other customers or the public;
17	prohibiting a public accommodation from imposing a deposit
18	or surcharge on an individual with a disability as a
19	precondition to permitting a service animal to accompany
20	the individual; providing that an individual with a
21	disability may be liable for damage caused by a service
22	animal; providing that the animal's owner is responsible
23	for the care and supervision of a service animal; providing
24	that the public accommodation or governmental entity is not
25	required to provide care or food or a special location for
26	a service animal; providing that a public accommodation or
27	government entity may exclude or remove any animal from the
28	premises if the animal's behavior poses a direct threat to
29	the health and safety of others; increasing certain
30	penalties for violations of the act; providing that the
31	trainer of a service animal has the same rights and
32	privileges as a person with a disability while training the
33	service animal; amending s. 413.081, F.S.; conforming
34	provisions to changes made by the act; providing an
35	effective date.
36
37	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
38
39	Section 1.  Section 413.08, Florida Statutes, is amended to
40	read:
41	413.08  Rights of individuals with disabilities who
42	physically disabled persons; use of dog guides or service
43	animals dogs or nonhuman primates of the genus Cebus;
44	discrimination in public employment or housing accommodations;
45	penalties.--
46	(1)  As used in this section, the term:
47	(a)  "Housing accommodation" means any real property or
48	portion thereof which is used or occupied, or intended,
49	arranged, or designed to be used or occupied, as a home,
50	residence, or sleeping place of one or more human beings. The
51	term does not include a single-family residence if the occupants
52	rent or lease to others for compensation not more than one room
53	in the residence.
54	(b)  "Individual with a disability" means a person with a
55	physical or mental impairment that severely limits the person's
56	ability to perform one or more daily life skills.
57	(c)  "Place of public accommodation" means a facility
58	operated by a private person at which operations affect commerce
59	and fall within at least one of the following categories:
60	1.  An inn, hotel, motel, or other place of lodging, except
61	for an establishment located within a building that contains not
62	more than five rooms for rent or hire and is actually occupied
63	by the proprietor of the establishment as the residence of the
64	proprietor.
65	2.  A restaurant, bar, or other establishment serving food
66	or drink.
67	3.  A motion picture house, theater, concert hall, stadium,
68	or other place of gathering.
69	4.  An auditorium, convention center, lecture hall, or
70	other place of exhibition or entertainment.
71	5.  A bakery, grocery store, clothing store, hardware
72	store, shopping center, or other sales or rental establishment.
73	6.  A laundromat, dry cleaner, bank, barber shop, beauty
74	shop, travel service, shoe repair service, funeral parlor, gas
75	station, office of a health care provider, hospital, or other
76	service establishment.
77	7.  A terminal, depot, or other station used for specified
78	public transportation.
79	8.  A museum, library, gallery, or other place of public
80	display or collection.
81	9.  A park, zoo, amusement park, or other place of
82	recreation.
83	10.  A day care center, senior citizen center, homeless
84	shelter, food bank, adoption agency, or other social services
85	establishment.
86	11.  A gymnasium, health spa, bowling alley, golf course,
87	or other place of exercise or recreation.
88	(d)  "Service animal" means an animal that is trained to
89	perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The tasks may
90	include, but are not limited to, guiding a person who is
91	visually impaired or blind, alerting a person who is deaf or
92	hard of hearing, pulling a wheelchair, assisting with mobility
93	or balance, alerting and protecting a person who is having a
94	seizure, retrieving objects, or performing other special tasks.
95	A service animal is not a pet.
96	(2)(1)(a)  An individual with a disability is The deaf,
97	hard of hearing, blind, visually handicapped, and otherwise
98	physically disabled are entitled to full and equal
99	accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges on all
100	common carriers, airplanes, motor vehicles, railroad trains,
101	motor buses, streetcars, boats, and other public conveyances or
102	modes of transportation; in all state and local governmental
103	facilities, programs, services, and activities; and at hotels,
104	lodging places, places of public accommodation, amusement, or
105	resort, and other places to which the general public is invited,
106	subject only to the conditions and limitations established by
107	law and applicable alike to all persons. This section does not
108	require any person, firm, or corporation, or any agent thereof,
109	to modify or provide any vehicle, premises, facility, or service
110	to a higher degree of accommodation than is required for a
111	person not so disabled.
112	(3)(b)  Every individual with a disability deaf or hard of
113	hearing person, totally or partially blind person, person who is
114	subject to epilepsy or other such seizure disorders, or
115	physically disabled person has the right to be accompanied by a
116	dog guide or service animal dog, specially trained for the
117	purpose, in any place of public accommodation or state or local
118	governmental facility, program, service, or activity the places
119	listed in paragraph (a) without being required to pay an extra
120	charge for the dog guide or service dog; however, such a person
121	is liable for any damage done to the premises or facilities by
122	such a dog. The dog guide or service dog must be capable of
123	being properly identified as being from a recognized school for
124	seeing-eye dogs, hearing-ear dogs, service dogs, including, but
125	not limited to, seizure-alert and seizure-response dogs, or
126	guide dogs.
127	(4)  Documentation that the service animal is trained is
128	not a precondition for providing service to an individual
129	accompanied by a service animal. A public accommodation or
130	governmental entity may ask if an animal is a service animal or
131	what tasks the animal has been trained to perform in order to
132	determine the difference between a service animal and a pet.
133	(5)  A service animal may accompany an individual with a
134	disability to all areas of a governmental facility or public
135	accommodation that the public or customers are normally
136	permitted to occupy. An individual with a service animal may not
137	be segregated from other customers or the public.
138	(6)(a)  A public accommodation may not impose a deposit or
139	surcharge on an individual with a disability as a precondition
140	to permitting a service animal to accompany the individual with
141	a disability, even if a deposit is routinely required for pets.
142	(b)  An individual with a disability is liable for damage
143	caused by a service animal if it is the regular policy and
144	practice of the public accommodation to charge nondisabled
145	persons for damages caused by their pets.
146	(7)  The care or supervision of a service animal is the
147	responsibility of the individual owner. A public accommodation
148	or governmental entity is not required to provide care or food
149	or a special location for the service animal.
150	(8)(a)  A public accommodation or governmental entity may
151	exclude or remove any animal, including a service animal, from
152	the premises if the animal's behavior poses a direct threat to
153	the health and safety of others. Allergies and fear of animals
154	are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to
155	an individual with a service animal. The perception of a threat
156	or fear based on past experience does not constitute a direct
157	threat.
158	(b)  If a service animal is excluded or removed as being a
159	direct threat to others, the public accommodation or
160	governmental entity must provide the individual with a
161	disability the option of continuing access to the public
162	accommodation or governmental entity without having the service
163	animal on the premises.
164	(c)  Every person with paraplegia or quadriplegia has the
165	right to be accompanied by a nonhuman primate of the genus
166	Cebus, specially trained for the purpose of providing personal
167	care services, in any of the places listed in paragraph (a)
168	without being required to pay an extra charge for the nonhuman
169	primate; however, such a person is liable for any damage done to
170	the premises or facilities by such nonhuman primate.
171	(9)(2)  Any person, firm, business, or corporation, or the
172	agent of any person, firm, business, or corporation, who denies
173	or interferes with admittance to, or enjoyment of, the public
174	accommodation of, facilities enumerated in subsection (1) or
175	otherwise interferes with the rights of, an individual with a
176	disability a deaf person, a hard of hearing person, a totally or
177	partially blind person, a person who is subject to epilepsy or
178	other such seizure disorders, or an otherwise physically
179	disabled person under this section, or the trainer of a dog
180	guide or service animal dog while engaged in the training of the
181	animal under such a dog pursuant to subsection (14) (7), commits
182	is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first second degree,
183	punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
184	(10)(3)  It is the policy of this state that an individual
185	with a disability the deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually
186	handicapped, and otherwise physically disabled shall be employed
187	in the service of the state or political subdivisions of the
188	state, in the public schools, and in all other employment
189	supported in whole or in part by public funds, and an employer
190	may not refuse employment to an individual with a disability the
191	deaf, the hard of hearing, the blind, the visually handicapped,
192	or the otherwise physically disabled on the basis of the
193	disability alone, unless it is shown that the particular
194	disability prevents the satisfactory performance of the work
195	involved.
196	(11)(4)  Each individual with a disability is Deaf persons,
197	hard of hearing persons, blind persons, visually handicapped
198	persons, and otherwise physically disabled persons are entitled
199	to rent, lease, or purchase, as other members of the general
200	public, any housing accommodations offered for rent, lease, or
201	other compensation in this state, subject to the conditions and
202	limitations established by law and applicable alike to all
203	persons.
204	(a)  As used in this subsection, the term "housing
205	accommodations" means any real property or portion thereof which
206	is used or occupied, or intended, arranged, or designed to be
207	used or occupied, as the home, residence, or sleeping place of
208	one or more human beings, but does not include any single-family
209	residence the occupants of which rent, lease, or furnish for
210	compensation not more than one room therein.
211	(b)  This section does not require any person renting,
212	leasing, or otherwise providing real property for compensation
213	to modify her or his property in any way or provide a higher
214	degree of care for a deaf person, hard of hearing person, blind
215	person, visually handicapped person, or otherwise physically
216	disabled person than for a person who is not so handicapped.
217	(12)(c)  Each individual with a disability deaf person,
218	hard of hearing person, totally or partially blind person, or
219	otherwise physically disabled person who has a service animal
220	dog guide, or who obtains a service animal dog guide, is
221	entitled to full and equal access to all housing accommodations
222	provided for in this section, and the such a person may shall
223	not be required to pay extra compensation for the service animal
224	dog guide.  However, an individual with a disability such a
225	person is liable for any damage done to the premises by such a
226	service animal dog guide.
227	(d)  Each person with paraplegia or quadriplegia who has or
228	obtains a nonhuman primate of the genus Cebus, specially trained
229	for the purpose of providing personal care services, is entitled
230	to full and equal access to all housing accommodations provided
231	for in this section, and she or he shall not be required to pay
232	extra compensation for such a nonhuman primate. However, the
233	person is liable for any damage done to the premises by such a
234	nonhuman primate.
235	(13)(5)  An Any employer covered under subsection (10) (3)
236	who discriminates against an individual with a disability the
237	deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually handicapped, or otherwise
238	physically disabled in employment, unless it is shown that the
239	particular disability prevents the satisfactory performance of
240	the work involved, or any person, firm, or corporation, or the
241	agent of any person, firm, business, or corporation, providing
242	housing accommodations as provided in subsection (11) (4) who
243	discriminates against an individual with a disability commits
244	the deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually handicapped, or
245	otherwise physically disabled is guilty of a misdemeanor of the
246	first second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s.
247	775.083.
248	(6)(a)  As used in this section, the term "physically
249	disabled person" means any person who has a physical impairment
250	that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
251	(b)  As used in this section, the term "hard of hearing
252	person" means an individual who has suffered a permanent hearing
253	impairment that is severe enough to necessitate the use of
254	amplification devices to discriminate speech sounds in verbal
255	communication.
256	(14)(7)  Any trainer of a dog guide or service animal dog,
257	while engaged in the training of the service animal such a dog,
258	has the same rights and privileges with respect to access to
259	public facilities and the same liability for damage as is
260	provided for individuals with a disability those persons
261	described in paragraph (1)(b) accompanied by a service animal
262	dog guides or service dogs.
263	(8)  Any trainer of a nonhuman primate of the genus Cebus,
264	while engaged in training such a nonhuman primate to provide
265	personal care services to a person with paraplegia or
266	quadriplegia, has the same rights and privileges with respect to
267	access to public facilities and the same liability for damage as
268	is provided for a person with paraplegia or quadriplegia who is
269	accompanied by nonhuman primates of the genus Cebus. As used in
270	this subsection, the term "trainer of a nonhuman primate of the
271	genus Cebus" means a paid employee of a training organization,
272	and does not include volunteers chosen to raise the animals.
273	Section 2.  Section 413.081, Florida Statutes, is amended
274	to read:
275	413.081  Interference with or injury to a guide dog or
276	service animal; penalties; restitution.--
277	(1)  A Any person who, with reckless disregard, interferes
278	with, or permits a dog that he or she owns or is in the
279	immediate control of to interfere, with, the use of a guide dog
280	or service animal by obstructing, intimidating, or otherwise
281	jeopardizing the safety of the service animal or its user
282	commits is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree for the
283	first offense and a misdemeanor of the first degree for each
284	subsequent offense, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s.
285	775.083.
286	(2)  A Any person who, with reckless disregard, injures or
287	kills, or permits a dog that he or she owns or is in the
288	immediate control of to injure or kill, a guide dog or service
289	animal commits is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree,
290	punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
291	(3)  A Any person who intentionally injures or kills, or
292	permits an animal a dog that he or she owns or is in the
293	immediate control of to injure or kill, a guide dog or service
294	animal commits is guilty of a felony of the third degree,
295	punishable as provided in s. 775.082, or s. 775.083, or s.
296	775.084.
297	(4)(a)  A person who is convicted of a violation of this
298	section, in addition to any other penalty, must make full
299	restitution for all damages that arise out of or are related to
300	the offense, including incidental and consequential damages
301	incurred by the guide dog or service animal's user.
302	(b)  Restitution includes the value of the service animal;
303	replacement and training or retraining expenses for the service
304	animal and the user; veterinary and other medical and boarding
305	expenses for the service animal; medical expenses for the user;
306	and lost wages or income incurred by the user during any period
307	that the user is without the services of the service such an
308	animal.
309	(5)  As used in this section, the term "service animal"
310	means an animal that is trained to perform tasks for an
311	individual with a disability. The tasks may include, but are not
312	limited to, guiding a person who is visually impaired or blind,
313	alerting a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, pulling a
314	wheelchair, assisting with mobility or balance, alerting and
315	protecting a person who is having a seizure, retrieving objects,
316	or performing other special tasks. A service animal is not a
317	pet.:
318	(a)  "Guide dog" means a dog that is trained for the
319	purpose of guiding blind persons or a dog trained for the
320	purpose of assisting hearing impaired persons.
321	(b)  "Service animal" means an animal that is trained for
322	the purposes of assisting or accommodating a disabled person's
323	sensory, mental, or physical disability.
324	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.