SB 661

Under current law, for purposes of the statute that deals with access to public

places of accommodation or amusement, "service animal" is defined as a guide dog,

signal dog, or other animal that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks

for the benefit of a person with a disability. Under this bill, the definition is limited

to include only a dog or miniature horse that is so trained.

Under the current open housing law, it is generally considered to be unlawful

discrimination for a person to refuse to rent or sell housing to an individual who is

vision, hearing, or mobility impaired, to evict such an individual from housing, to

require extra compensation from such an individual for the continued ability to

occupy housing, or to harass such an individual, if in any of these cases the individual

keeps an animal that is specially trained to lead or assist him or her. An exception

to this general rule applies to owner-occupied housing if the owner or a member of

the owner's family can demonstrate that he or she is allergic to such an animal.

Under the current open housing law, "animal" is not defined. Under the bill,

"animal" is defined as a dog or miniature horse that is individually trained to do work

or perform tasks for the benefit of a person who is vision, hearing, or mobility

impaired.

This bill directs the Department of Administration to recommend to the

legislature methods to increase the number of businesses owned by people who are

blind or visually impaired that participate in the state contracting process.

This bill requires the Department of Health Services (DHS) to submit to the

legislature a report on the Office of the Blind and Visually Impaired within DHS,

which assists blind persons in adapting and adjusting to vision loss and in living

independently.

This bill directs the Department of Public Instruction, in consultation with the

Department of Health Services, to prepare a report recommending ways to improve

the program that assists in the adjustment of adults who have recently become blind

or visually impaired and submit it to the legislature.

This bill requires the Department of Safety and Professional Services and the

Department of Transportation (DOT) to prepare a report relating to public signage

and audible traffic signals to assist the blind.

This bill requires DOT to submit to the legislature a report that includes all of

the following: 1) an evaluation of the effectiveness, in improving pedestrian safety,

of the requirement that motorists yield a ten-foot safety distance to pedestrians

using service animals or walking sticks associated with the visually impaired; 2) an

evaluation of the effectiveness of DOT's promotion, education, and enforcement

efforts related to this requirement and of the adequacy of the penalty for a violation

of this requirement; and 3) DOT's recommendations to improve effectiveness under

items 1 and 2.

This bill requests the Joint Legislative Council to study the Supervised