Emotional support animals restricted by Louisiana Legislature

By: Wesley Muller - May 29, 2024 4:58 pm

The Louisiana Legislature approved a bill Wednesday that will make it a crime to use or sell dubious emotional support animal “certifications,” which are marketed to pet owners who want to bring their furry companions into apartments, hotels and other venues where animals aren’t permitted. 

House Bill 407, sponsored by Rep. Joe Stagni, R-Kenner, received final passage in a 85-3 concurrence vote in the House and will be sent to Gov. Jeff Landry for enactment or veto. 

Stagni touts the bill as a common sense measure to crack down on what he considers a form of disability fraud. His proposal would make it illegal for medical professionals to “certify” an emotional support animal for anyone who is not actually disabled. It would also make it illegal for anyone to falsely represent an animal as a service dog or one in training.

The term “emotional support animal” is used to describe an animal that provides comfort just by being in its owner’s presence. Actual service animals are bred and trained to perform tasks for disabled people, such as guiding the visually impaired or early seizure detection for epileptics. Emotional support animals have no such training or skills and are not recognized under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

Many websites offer easy-to-obtain emotional support animal “certifications” or letters from actual licensed therapists, but the process is often nothing more than a financial transaction and includes little, if any, clinical screening to determine whether one genuinely needs such an accommodation. 

Emotional support animals have proliferated in recent years, with viral photos and videos showing people trying to board flights with pigs, peafowl and all manner of exotic pets. During a committee hearing on the bill in April, Stagni said there has been a 9,000% increase in emotional support animal applications at one website since 2011. A similar statistic was included in a 2019 report from the Hill, citing an unidentified online, for-profit emotional support animal website.   

An entire industry has grown around emotional support animal letters. For fees of around $150, one can obtain such a letter for any kind of animal in as few as five minutes. Some websites offer special vests or collars to help people further misrepresent their pets as medically necessary.

Other websites claim to be “official” national registries for emotional support and service animals. For about $90, an owner can enter their pet’s name and information into a database of purportedly “certified” animals. One such website is presented as a kind of screening tool or national clearinghouse to determine the legitimacy of service or support animal letters, but the website, itself, has no clinical legitimacy, accreditation or official status.

There are no federal certifications, licenses or official registries for legitimate service animals, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Stagni’s bill will criminalize such websites and the therapists behind them with penalties of $500 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second infraction and $2,500 for any subsequent violations. 

Lawmakers were largely supportive of Stagni’s legislation with the exception of a provision that would have given landlords blanket immunity against liability for any injuries and damages support animals and service dogs caused on their properties. 

Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Pineville, addressed this during the committee hearing, saying the provision could cause serious issues if, for instance, a tenant’s service dog were responsible for repeated attacks after a landlord was warned the first time and refused to take action.

The immunity provision was removed from the final version of the bill.