SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE January 23, 1998 9:00 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Gary Wilken, Chairman Senator Loren Leman, Vice-Chairman Senator Lyda Green MEMBERS ABSENT Senator Jerry Ward Senator Johnny Ellis COMMITTEE CALENDAR CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 170(HES) "An Act relating to interference with the rights of physically and mentally challenged persons; and relating to service animals during their pre-training and training period." HEARD AND HELD PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION HB 170 - No previous Senate committee action. WITNESS REGISTER Representative Tom Brice Alaska State Capitol Juneau, Alaska 99801-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HB 170. Jessica Irmen P.O. Box 4191 Soldotna, Alaska 99669 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. Rae Baggen 5311 Halibut Point Road Sitka, Alaska 99835 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. Suzanne Price P.O. Box 84951 Fairbanks, Alaska 99708 POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 170. Serena Murray P.O. Box 2598 Kenai, Alaska 99611 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. Roger Hansen 4-H Club 1887 Southern Ave. Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 170. Sharon Bell Access Alaska 3550 Airport Way, Suite 3 Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. David Jacobsen, Director Access Alaska 4214 Mathison Court Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. Dan Labrosse Deaf Community Services 475 Hall Street Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. Vicki Horodyski North Star Council of the Blind 1035 Ballaine Road Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. Amorette Kennedy Guide Dog Trainers P.O. Box 11 Ninilchik, Alaska 99639 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170. Cheryl Hall Southeast Alaska Independent Living P.O. Box 35097 Juneau, Alaska 99803 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170 with changes. Patty Baumgartner P.O. Box 21491 Juneau, Alaska 99802 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170 with changes. Diane Biggness 9147 Parkwood Drive Juneau, Alaska 99801 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170 with changes. Lynn Koral Alaska Independent Blind 1102 W International Airport Road Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 170. Nancy Andison 9346 Parview Court Juneau, Alaska 99801 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 170 with changes. Darrin Jones P.O. Box 33265 Juneau, Alaska 99803 POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 170. Barbara Turner Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 170. ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 98-4, SIDE A Number 001 HB 170 - SERVICE ANIMALS FOR PHYS/MENT. CHALLENGED CHAIRMAN WILKEN called the Senate Health, Education and Social Services (HESS) Committee to order at 9:06 a.m. Present were Senators Wilken, Leman, and Green. The first order of business before the committee was HB 170. REPRESENTATIVE TOM BRICE, sponsor of HB 170, gave the following overview of the bill. The American Disabilities Act (ADA) requires access to public accommodations for the disabled. HB 170 extends that right to animals being trained as service animals so that those animals can be socialized in areas where they will be providing services. HB 170 does not establish state certification or determine who can train service animals. It only allows trainers access to places such as state court buildings, the ferry system, and the Palmer and Tanana fairs. Number 066 SENATOR LEMAN suggested changing the penalty from a class B misdemeanor to a violation to streamline the process. REPRESENTATIVE BRICE said the penalty was designated as a class B misdemeanor by the legal drafters to be consistent with the penalty established in AS 11.76.130 (interfering with the rights of disabled persons). He noted if the committee feels a violation is more appropriate, he would be agreeable to that change. SENATOR LEMAN thought the Senate Judiciary committee would be the appropriate place to address the penalty issue and noted his interest in reclassifying the penalty is to accomplish the same goal while using a less burdensome process. SENATOR LEMAN asked Representative Brice to find out the number of misdemeanors prosecuted under that statute. Number 112 SENATOR GREEN said she spoke with staff at the Palmer State Fair about the incidents in which animals in training were not permitted on the fairgrounds. Fairground staff are reviewing the policy but suspect the problem is insurance related. She expects a response from fairground staff next week. She suggested amending the bill to require trainers and service dogs in training to have some form of identification so that proprietors can easily determine whether the dog and trainer are legitimately on the premises. REPRESENTATIVE BRICE pointed out Section 2(C) prohibits a proprietor from being charged if the trainer does not provide reasonable evidence of authorization to train a service animal. He said most trainers wear a coat that is easily recognizable and the animals usually wear a green cape. CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked Representative Brice to consider Senator Leman's comments about the penalty provision and to provide the committee with new language or suggestions to resolve the issue. He then took telelconference testimony. JESSICA IRMEN, representing Guide Dog Raisers in Alaska, spent 1+ years raising a guide dog puppy for the blind. Service dogs in training have already had obedience training as puppies and can enter any public facility and behave appropriately. She emphasized it is crucial that guide dogs in training have access to all public facilities and as many different situations as possible to be successful. RAE BAGGEN, testifying from Sitka, said it is very important that the disabled have the ability to come and go within their communities, in both rural and urban areas. She stated the expense of getting a trained service dog from other states can be prohibitive. She commended the committee for its work. Number 250 SUZANNE PRICE, representing Guide Dog Raisers in Alaska, made the following comments. She has raised guide dog puppies for close to 30 years and recently raised a dog for Leader Dogs for the Blind, sponsored by the Lions Club. Alaska represents a few programs that socialize and train service animals. Guide dogs must be familiarized with the places the new owner will be going. Places that have posed problems in the past are the state office building, the state ferry, the state fair, the Court buildings and the large mall in downtown Anchorage; the only one in Alaska that approximates malls in the Lower 48. Most private businesses in Fairbanks have been extremely cooperative with trainers. The Leader Dog Project, run by the 4-H Club, operates without government money: the work is voluntary, and the blind person receives the dog free of charge. The 4-H Club believes it is important to show youth the value of giving back to the community by providing free training. ROGER HANSEN, representing the 4-H Club, testified. He has raised about 30 guide dogs over 30 years and has been asked to leave many establishments because a dog in training was accompanying him. Puppy raisers in the 4-H program do carry insurance yet he has never seen or heard of any damage done by any dogs while training in public. SHARON BELL, representing Access Alaska, and herself as a legally blind person, stated her support for HB 170. Puppies need to have access to public places early in life so that they can learn more specific skills in their second year of life. DAVID JACOBSEN, Director of the Anchorage and Fairbanks programs of Access Alaska, and representing himself as a legally blind person, testified in support of HB 170. The disabled need the opportunity for integration in their communities, and to live and/or work independently. Service animals are one tool necessary to obtain those goals. Number 343 DAN LABROSSE stated he works with Deaf Community Services in Fairbanks, and has worked with clients who use hearing aid dogs. Although those dogs usually wear orange-collared capes for identification, he has seen clients encounter problems with employers and private businesses. He supports HB 170 because hearing aid dogs are as vital to a person's independence as seeing eye guide dogs, as well as other service animals for the physically impaired. He believed it is important to keep the class B misdemeanor penalty classification for the purpose of consistency. VICKY HORODYSKI, representing the North Star Council for the Blind, testified in support of HB 170. Some of her members use service dogs rather than seeing-eye guide dogs. She believes guide dogs can be more easily trained if training begins when they are puppies, and that using volunteers for training provides more puppies at a lower cost. SERENA MURRAY, representing Guide Dog Trainers, testified from Kenai. She said that access to all public facilities by puppies in training will ultimately benefit the dogs' users the most. AMORETTE KENNEDY, representing the 4-H Guide Dog Raisers, has found that businesses on the Kenai Peninsula are generally very supportive of this project, but noted she has been asked to leave some. She agreed dogs in training need socialization as early as possible. 4-H trainers take training seriously and feel it is important to educate the public about what they are doing. Number 420 CHAIRMAN WILKEN noted three service dogs were attending the hearing and that two were napping. CHERYL HALL, Assistant Director of Southeast Alaska Independent Living (SAIL), stated support for the issue. Some disabled people's lives and their ability to be independent are vastly improved with the aid of service animals. No longer are guide dogs only for the blind; animals are now trained to help deaf and physically challenged people. Training in public places is imperative so that puppies can be exposed to situations which they will eventually confront, such as malls, traffic, airplanes, ferries, and people. Several of SAIL's consumers have expressed concern that animals they train on their own may have to go outside of Alaska to receive specialized training for certification. MS. HALL explained the ADA provided for the use of service animals by the disabled by requiring that the animals be qualified, not certified. By using the word "qualified," those who want to train their animals with community assistance may do so, but the animal must behave appropriately and be identified in some way. The standard is more important than certification. The animal must be obedience-trained and then trained to a high standard in a particular discipline. Once sent out of state, most of the puppies being socialized in Alaska do not return. Southeast residents are interested in having their animals locally trained because the terrain is different; the weather and lighting conditions are unique, roads are not paved in many communities, and concrete sidewalks do not exist. She said one of her clients is 55, lives in a rural area, and has been told by three schools that it will take at least six years to get a dog. Over the past year, SAIL has been working with the Gastineau Humane Society to train animals from the pound as service animals. At present, one dog is being trained to be a hearing dog. After the dog's training, the dog will be a qualified service animal; the legislation needs to address this type of situation. PATTY BAUMGARTNER, an artist and advocate for people with disabilities, testified in support of HB 170, but expressed the following concerns. The word "certified" presents a problem because a puppy cannot be certified while in training. The ADA uses the word "qualified." Currently no state certification program exists therefore no local trainers can be certified. She noted she has provided local training for dogs who are already certified. SENATOR GREEN asked if Ms. Baumgartner has been asked to leave establishments even though her dog is fully trained. MS. BAUMGARTNER said she had. SENATOR GREEN asked if HB 170 would change that. MS. BAUMGARTNER said she and her dog graduated as a working team, but there is no one to certify them in Alaska. She noted using the word "certified" in HB 170 implies that there will be a certification program. She repeated the ADA requires animals to be qualified, not certified. She warned, however, the disabled community is concerned that unscrupulous people will bring their pets in public places under the guise of service dog training. SENATOR GREEN noted her continuing concern that HB 170 does not address the problem of shop owners prohibiting trainers with fully trained dogs from entering their premises. She felt there should be a quick identification mechanism on the animal in training so that the trainer does not have to seek out permission to be on the premises. MS. BAUMGARTNER suggested having the Division of Motor Vehicles issue IDs, similar to those issued for search and rescue dogs, and requiring the dogs to wear some identifying tag or marker. DIANE BIGGNESS, a Juneau shop owner, stated strong support for HB 170, but discussed two problems with the bill. The first is in Section 2(a) and refers to the authorized person in charge of training the dog. The definition of "authorized" requires the person to be employed by, or serving as a volunteer with, a school, agency, or other facility that trains service animals. No such agency exists in Southeast yet many qualified people train dogs here. That requirement would either negate the training that is currently occurring, or would force the government to establish a school or an agency to authorize existing trainers. Changing the word to "qualified" and offering an identification mechanism would allow trainers like Ms. Baumgartner to continue training. MS. BIGGNESS explained the second problem is the use of the term "certified animal" because a dog in training is not certified. She explained a lengthy process occurs before one can determine whether a dog is qualified to be trained. Therefore, many dogs are pre-trained but do SENATOR GREEN clarified the term "certified service animal" is in existing law, and does not refer to animals in training. MS. BIGGNESS repeated her concern with the word "authorized." Number 578 REPRESENTATIVE BRICE explained that the word "authorized" was intended to mean some sort of affiliation with an organization, such as SAIL. He noted this issue was discussed last session, and he wanted to stay away from the idea of certification in this bill. His intent is to simply have a trainer affiliate with an organization that is training dogs. MS. BIGGNESS responded that is why she felt the word "qualified" was better than "authorized" because existing trainers will have to contact and align with an agency to continue to train. CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked Representative Brice to work with Ms. Biggness and others involved on that problem before the bill is rescheduled. Number 565 SENATOR GREEN thought the definition of the word "authorized" should provide for qualified trainers who do not want to be affiliated with a school or agency. LYNN KORAL, State President of the Alaska Independent Blind, stated she disagreed with previous speakers for the following reasons. Certain schools do come to Alaska to do domicile training. Standards are critical otherwise animals may not get adequate training. She questioned why all agencies should be given the right to say they can train dogs. Her association is not interested in stopping people from using dogs as guide dogs, but it does want to see some training standards required to protect the people who rely on trained dogs. MS. KORAL said she does support allowing service dogs in training to have access to public facilities. Number 505 NANCY ANDISON, representing herself, had her service dog deliver paperwork to Chairman Wilken. She explained that the paperwork is a collection of comments she received from the public about her dog. She trained her dog from the start after being told it would take seven or eight years to get a dog from a training program. She would have had to travel to California for three weeks for the training which would have been expensive and impractical for her. She believes it does not matter who trains the animals, if the dog can meet certain standards, just as it is not important who teaches a person to drive if that person passes the test, and that eventually standards will be established. In the meantime, there are a lot of people who realize that puppies in training need to be socialized at an early age. She expressed concern about language in HB 170 requiring trainers to be affiliated with a school. She stressed that many schools have waiting lists of many years for trained dogs. She also expressed concern about the lack of identification for trainers. She stated she is very supportive of HB 170, except for the concerns she mentioned. She asked anyone interested on the teleconference to call her to work on this legislation. DARRIN JONES, representing the Gastineau Humane Society, stated that whether the word certified or qualified is used, situations in Alaska are quite unique. He noted that because of the size of Alaska, it is sometimes difficult and impractical for an owner to travel to the Lower 48 to train their dog. He expressed concern that non-disabled pet owners will take advantage of the legislation if the word "qualified" is used, and that a poorly trained guide dog can be a danger to its owner. He felt no matter which word is used, someone will have to ensure that the dog is adequately trained. BARBARA TURNER, representing herself, stated her service dog is able to pull her wheelchair, and alerts her when the doorbell rings, since she is hearing impaired. Her dog began training when he was seven years old. She would have to wait two to five years to get a dog from a school. The only documentation she has for her service dog is paperwork from SAIL, which is updated annually. BARBARA IRMEN clarified that Guide Dog puppy raisers do carry training identification. CHAIRMAN WILKEN repeated his intent to hold the legislation for further work. He thanked all participants and adjourned the meeting at 9:50 a.m.