PRINTER'S NO. 2061
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
1466
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY MURT, ACOSTA, BISHOP, BIZZARRO, V. BROWN,
CALTAGIRONE, FEE, GROVE, PHILLIPS-HILL, W. KELLER, McNEILL,
READSHAW, ROZZI, SCHLOSSBERG, SCHREIBER, THOMAS, WARD AND
HARHAI, JULY 21, 2015
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, JULY 21, 2015
AN ACT
Amending the act of October 27, 1955 (P.L.744, No.222),
entitled, as amended, "An act prohibiting certain practices
of discrimination because of race, color, religious creed,
ancestry, age or national origin by employers, employment
agencies, labor organizations and others as herein defined;
creating the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in the
Governor's Office; defining its functions, powers and duties;
providing for procedure and enforcement; providing for
formulation of an educational program to prevent prejudice;
providing for judicial review and enforcement and imposing
penalties," further providing for findings and declaration of
policy and for right to freedom from discrimination in
employment, housing and public accommodation; and providing
for therapy dogs and public transportation and unlawful
discriminatory practices.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 2 of the act of October 27, 1955
(P.L.744, No.222), known as the Pennsylvania Human Relations
Act, is amended by adding a subsection to read:
Section 2. Findings and Declaration of Policy.--
* * *
(b.1) It is hereby declared to be the public policy of this
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Commonwealth to safeguard the rights of all individuals with
disabilities, owners or handlers of therapy dogs and persons
licensed to train therapy dogs to use all forms of public
transportation regardless of the use of accompanying therapy
dogs because of disabilities of the users or because the users
are handlers or trainers of therapy dogs.
* * *
Section 2. Section 3 of the act, amended December 20, 1991
(P.L.414, No.51), is amended to read:
Section 3. Right to Freedom from Discrimination in
Employment, Housing and Public Accommodation.--
(a) The opportunity for an individual to obtain employment
for which he is qualified, and to obtain all the accommodations,
advantages, facilities and privileges of any public
accommodation and of any housing accommodation and commercial
property without discrimination because of race, color, familial
status, religious creed, ancestry, handicap or disability, age,
sex, national origin, the use of a guide or support animal
because of the blindness, deafness or physical handicap of the
user or because the user is a handler or trainer of support or
guide animals is hereby recognized as and declared to be a civil
right which shall be enforceable as set forth in this act.
(b) The opportunity for an individual with a disability, an
owner or handler of a therapy dog or a person licensed to train
therapy dogs to obtain all the accommodations, advantages,
facilities and privileges of any form of public transportation
without discrimination because of the use of an accompanying
therapy dog properly harnessed for purposes of aiding and
guiding a disabled person and riding on all vehicles operated
for public transportation is hereby recognized as and declared
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to be a civil right which shall be enforceable as set forth in
this act.
Section 3. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 5.4. Therapy Dogs and Public Transportation and
Unlawful Discriminatory Practices.--
(a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any
form of public transportation to:
(1) Deny, limit, discourage or attempt to discourage or
impose burdens or penalties on an individual with a disability,
an owner or handler of a therapy dog or a person licensed to
train therapy dogs with respect to accessing any accommodations,
advantages, facilities or privileges of any form of public
transportation because of the use of an accompanying therapy dog
properly harnessed for purposes of aiding and guiding a disabled
person and riding on all vehicles operated for public
transportation.
(2) Deny or limit a therapy dog properly harnessed,
accompanying a person with a disability or an owner or handler
of a therapy dog or a person licensed to train therapy dogs from
aiding and guiding a disabled person or from riding on all
vehicles operated for public transportation, or to charge a fee
for the transportation of such dog.
(b) The Department of Agriculture shall establish criteria
and standards with which a recognized therapy dog training
organization must comply regarding the certification and
registration of therapy dogs and their handlers.
(c) The following words and phrases shall have the meanings
given to them in this subsection unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise:
(1) The term "recognized therapy dog training organization"
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means an organization which certifies or registers therapy dogs
and their handlers in accordance with regulations established by
the Department of Agriculture under this subsection.
(2) The term "therapy dog" means any dog that is trained to
work or perform specific tasks for the benefit of persons,
including those with special needs, autism, drug addiction,
distress due to emotional and physical abuse and clinical
depression or bipolar disease by a recognized therapy dog
training organization and is actually used for such purpose.
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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