1 day Ago By Amaya Ward / KFOR
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — There's a new effort to criminalize people who mispresent their dogs or other animals as service animals.House Bill 1178 authored by Representative Marilyn Stark, R-Bethany, would make it a misdemeanor to falsely misrepresent your animal as a service animal.The bill passed through the House on Tuesday.
State Representative JJ Humphrey, R-Lane, was one of the many that voted "yes" for the bill."You have to be able to hold people accountable," said Humphrey. "If we don't hold people accountable then we see restaurants, we see businesses saying 'no dogs, period, allowed ' that creates a big, big problem.
"Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, service animals are not required to wear an identifying vest, badge, or carry a license.House Committee grills ODMHSAS Commissioner on missing $43 million "We should be able to license that you have a card with you just bam, it is a service animal or it's not a service animal. And you can't claim it is a service animal unless you have," said Humphrey.
Service animal experts worry the bill won't work."Now you're inviting the government to investigate your medical history, your background, things like that, and that's not a place for the government to be," said Kate Friedl, President of Anthem Service Dogs.Friedl said a person's disability is not always physically visible.
"17% or one in six Oklahomans are living with a disability. You can walk through Walmart and pass by 100 people and not even know or think about whether or not a person you're standing next to has a disability," said Friedl.Lawmakers said the goal isn't to issue more citations, but to hold people accountable.
"We need to set up mechanisms in our criminal justice system that actually do help misdemeanor crimes like this. Again, I think a fine would be appropriate and then if you continue to do it, you can increase the fine or actually result in 30 days county jail," said Humphrey..
