28 CFR Part 36 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities NPRM: Preamble (2008 Title III NPRM Preamble)

Service animals.

The Department wishes to clarify the obligations of public accommodations to accommodate individuals with disabilities who use service animals.  The Department continues to receive a large number of complaints from individuals with service animals.  It appears that many covered entities are confused regarding their obligations under the ADA with regard to individuals with disabilities who use service animals.  At the same time, some individuals with impairments--who would not be covered as individuals with disabilities--are claiming that their animals are legitimate service animals, whether fraudulently or sincerely (albeit mistakenly), to gain access to hotels, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation.  Another trend is the use of wild, exotic, or unusual species, many of which are untrained, as service animals.  The Department is proposing amendments to its regulation on service animals in the hope of mitigating the apparent confusion.

Minimal protection.

In the Department's ADA Business Brief on Service Animals, which was published in 2002, the Department interpreted the minimal protection language within the context of a seizure (i.e., alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure).  Although the Department received comments urging it to eliminate the minimal protection language, the Department continues to believe that it should retain the "providing minimal protection" language and interpret the language to exclude so-called "attack dogs" that pose a direct threat to others.

Guidance on permissible service animals.

In the original regulation implementing title III, "service animal" was defined as "any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal," and the Department believed, at the time, that leaving the species selection up to the discretion of the person with a disability was the best course of action.  Due to the proliferation of animals used by individuals, including wild animals, the Department believes that this area needs some parameters.  Therefore, the Department is proposing to eliminate certain species from coverage even if the other elements of the definition are satisfied.

Comfort animals vs. psychiatric service animals.

Under the Department's present regulatory language, some individuals and entities have assumed that the requirement that service animals must be individually trained to do work or perform tasks excluded all individuals with mental disabilities from having service animals. Others have assumed that any person with a psychiatric condition whose pet provided comfort to them was covered by the ADA.  The Department believes that psychiatric service animals that are trained to do work or perform a task (e.g., reminding its owner to take medicine) for individuals whose disability is covered by the ADA are protected by the Department's present regulatory approach.

Psychiatric service animals can be trained to perform a variety of tasks that assist individuals with disabilities to detect the onset of psychiatric episodes and ameliorate their effects.  Tasks performed by psychiatric service animals may include reminding the handler to take medicine; providing safety checks, or room searches, or turning on lights for persons with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; interrupting self-mutilation by persons with dissociative identity disorders; and keeping disoriented individuals from danger.

The Department is proposing new regulatory text in § 36.104 to formalize its position on emotional support/comfort animals, which is that "[a]nimals whose sole function is to provide emotional support, comfort, therapy, companionship, therapeutic benefits, or promote emotional well-being are not service animals."  The Department wishes to state, however, that the exclusion of emotional support animals from ADA coverage does not mean that individuals with psychiatric, cognitive, or mental disabilities cannot use service animals.  The Department proposes specific regulatory text in § 36.104 to make this clear:  "The term service animal includes individually trained animals that do work or perform tasks for the benefit of individuals with disabilities, including psychiatric, cognitive, and mental disabilities."  This language simply clarifies the Department's longstanding position and is not a new position.

The Department's rule is based on the assumption that the title II and title III regulations govern a wider range of public settings than the settings that allow for emotional support animals.  The Department recognizes, however, that there are situations not governed exclusively by the title II and title III regulations, particularly in the context of residential settings and employment, where there may be compelling reasons to permit the use of animals whose presence provides emotional support to a person with a disability.  Accordingly, other federal agency regulations governing those situations may appropriately provide for increased access for animals other than service animals.

Modification in policies, practices, or procedures.

The preamble to § 36.302 of the current title III regulation states that the regulatory language was intended to provide the "broadest feasible access" to individuals with service animals while acknowledging that, in rare circumstances, accommodating service animals may not be required if it would result in a fundamental alteration of the nature of the goods or services the public accommodation provides or the safe operation of the public accommodation.  56 FR 35544, 35565 (July 26, 1991).  In order to clarify this provision, the Department is incorporating into the proposed regulation guidance that it has provided previously through technical assistance.

Proposed training standards.

The Department has always required that service animals be individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, but has never imposed any type of formal training requirements or certification process.  While some groups have urged the Department to modify this position, the Department does not believe such a modification would serve the array of individuals with disabilities who use service animals.

Detailed regulatory text changes and the Department's response to public comments on these issues and others are discussed below in the definition section, § 36.104, and the section on modifications in policies, practices, and procedures, § 36.302(c).