Hawaii bills attempt to clarify status of support animals

Two very different bills regarding privileges for serv­ice and emotional support animals were introduced in the Legislature.

Senate Bill 2438 and companion House Bill 1944 would require any person or business that sells or provides an animal for use as an emotional support animal to provide a written disclaimer that the animal does not have the special training required to qualify as a service animal and is not entitled to the same privileges as certified service animals.

The measures also would apply to businesses selling certificates, vests, harnesses, tags and other products for emotional support animals, in which case the disclaimer would indicate that the products do not grant untrained pets the same rights as certified serv­ice animals.

Penalties include a fine of $100 to $250 for the first violation and not less than $500 for additional violations.

Both SB 2438 and HB 1944 have been referred to committees for further consideration.

A separate bill, SB 2194, would have given anxiety or emotional support animals the same rights as service animals.

The measure was deferred Feb. 1 by the Senate Committee on Human Serv­ices, effectively killing it for the 2022 session. The bill’s introducer, Sen. Bennette Misalucha (D, Pearl Harbor­-Pearl City-Aiea), said she plans to reintroduce it in 2023.

“We have to acknowledge that mental health and emotional needs are as legitimate as physical needs,” Misalucha said.

She said SB 2194 was deferred for a lack of clear language surrounding emotional support animals.

Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, said business owners empathize with those who require emotional support and service animals; however, when pet owners claim their untrained pets are support animals, businesses have no option but to take their word for it.

“Animals have — how can I say this nicely — peed on our merchandise, barked at other customers, snapped at other customers,” Yamaki said. “We’ve also seen recently more people bringing their pets to shopping mall stores.”

Virgil Stinnett, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii, believes the vast majority of emotional support animals aren’t adequately trained. He said owners of legitimate service animals are taught that they may be asked to leave a businesses if their pet isn’t well groomed, smells or behaves in any offensive manner.

Even friendly dogs can face challenges, Stinnet said.

He recalled a case in which a Labrador dog that always had a big grin on its face did not graduate from training “because some people might look at that and say, ‘That dog is growling at me or has got a snarl.’”

Matthew Lorin, executive director of Hawaii Fi-Do, which trains service dogs, said there is a need for a law to help distinguish emotional support animals from highly trained service animals. He worries that giving emotional support animals the same rights as service animals will increase the confusion.

By federal law, only owners with disabilities recognized by the Americans With Disabilities Act are allowed service animal privileges, Lorin said. And their animals must be trained to serve that person’s specific disability, he said.

Training to certify a serv­ice animal can cost between $25,000 to $40,000 and take around 18 months to two years, he said.

“ESA (emotional support animal) is not a recognized category because experiencing high anxiety or extreme emotions is not necessarily recognized as a disability,” Lorin said.

In order for “extreme emotion” to be included under the ADA, Lorin said it would have to be recognized as a clinically diagnosed psychological disability.

It’s the same federal statute that gives airlines the right to permit only service animals in the cabin, he said.

“We’re really just concerned that these very well-intentioned people are just going to confuse things and make them worse because people have so exploited this emotional support concept,” Lorin said.

Joel Cho, a 52-year-old blind vendor on Maui, also has concerns for any law that would give emotional support and service animals the same rights.

Cho owns a 10-year-old golden Labrador service dog named Oregon but understands there are some owners who would suffer without their emotional support pets.

“There are soldiers and other people from whatever situations in life that have severe post-traumatic syndrome who definitely deserve to have their dogs, if that’s what’s helping them,” he said.