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Louisiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would crack down on the proliferation of dubious emotional support animal certifications, which people are misusing to get their pets aboard commercial flights or to skirt no-pet policies at apartments and hotels.
House Bill 407, sponsored by Rep. Joe Stagni, R-Kenner, cleared the Senate Health & Welfare Committee Tuesday and is pending consideration on the Senate floor.
The proposal would make it illegal for health care 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 service dog-in-training.
Unlike service dogs that are bred and trained to perform tasks or detect seizures for people with disabilities, critics say emotional support animals are, for the most part, just pets with no special training or skills.
Emotional support animals have proliferated in recent years, with viral photos and videos showing people boarding flights with all manner of exotic pets. Numerous websites exist offering easy-to-obtain certifications from actual licensed therapists. One can get a certificate for any kind of animal simply by paying a fee.
Stagni said there has been a 9,000% increase in emotional support animal applications since 2011. It’s unclear where the statistic originated, but it was included in a 2019 article in The Hill that cited an unidentified online, for-profit national service registry.
Sens. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, and Jay Luneau, D-Pineville, joked about the problem during Tuesday’s hearing.
“Sen. Luneau just told me he has a peacock as an emotional support animal,” McMath said.
The joke isn’t that far from reality. In 2018, a New York woman tried to board a United Airlines flight with an emotional support peacock named Dexter. The airline refused the feathered passenger as photos of the bird perched on the handle of an airport luggage cart quickly went viral.
A post shared by Dexter The Peacock (@dexterthepeacock)
Although the senators were supportive of Stagni’s legislation and seemed to agree there is a growing problem with pet owners misrepresenting the clinical necessity of their animals, there were some hangups with certain provisions that would give landlords absolute immunity from lawsuits for any injuries or damages caused by service animals.
Luneau said he could envision big problems if a service dog repeatedly bites a tenant after a landlord was warned the first time and refused to take action. Luneau said he would work on an amendment to rectify that issue.
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by Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator
April 26, 2024
by Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator
April 26, 2024
Louisiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would crack down on the proliferation of dubious emotional support animal certifications, which people are misusing to get their pets aboard commercial flights or to skirt no-pet policies at apartments and hotels.
House Bill 407, sponsored by Rep. Joe Stagni, R-Kenner, cleared the Senate Health & Welfare Committee Tuesday and is pending consideration on the Senate floor.
The proposal would make it illegal for health care 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 service dog-in-training.
Unlike service dogs that are bred and trained to perform tasks or detect seizures for people with disabilities, critics say emotional support animals are, for the most part, just pets with no special training or skills.
Emotional support animals have proliferated in recent years, with viral photos and videos showing people boarding flights with all manner of exotic pets. Numerous websites exist offering easy-to-obtain certifications from actual licensed therapists. One can get a certificate for any kind of animal simply by paying a fee.
Stagni said there has been a 9,000% increase in emotional support animal applications since 2011. It’s unclear where the statistic originated, but it was included in a 2019 article in The Hill that cited an unidentified online, for-profit national service registry.
Sens. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, and Jay Luneau, D-Pineville, joked about the problem during Tuesday’s hearing.
“Sen. Luneau just told me he has a peacock as an emotional support animal,” McMath said.
The joke isn’t that far from reality. In 2018, a New York woman tried to board a United Airlines flight with an emotional support peacock named Dexter. The airline refused the feathered passenger as photos of the bird perched on the handle of an airport luggage cart quickly went viral.
A post shared by Dexter The Peacock (@dexterthepeacock)
Although the senators were supportive of Stagni’s legislation and seemed to agree there is a growing problem with pet owners misrepresenting the clinical necessity of their animals, there were some hangups with certain provisions that would give landlords absolute immunity from lawsuits for any injuries or damages caused by service animals.
Luneau said he could envision big problems if a service dog repeatedly bites a tenant after a landlord was warned the first time and refused to take action. Luneau said he would work on an amendment to rectify that issue.
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Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.
Wes Muller traces his journalism roots to 1997 when, at age 13, he built a hyper-local news website for his New Orleans neighborhood. Since then, he has freelanced for the Times-Picayune and worked on staff at WAFB/CBS, the Sun Herald and the Enterprise-Journal. He also taught English as an adjunct instructor at Baton Rouge Community College. Muller is a New Orleans native, Jesuit High School alumnus, University of New Orleans alumnus and a U.S. Army veteran and former paratrooper. He lives in Southeast Louisiana with his two sons and wife.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization with a mission to cast light on how decisions in Baton Rouge are made and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianians. Our in-depth investigations and news stories, news briefs and commentary help residents make sense of how state policies help or hurt them and their neighbors statewide.
We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website.
© Louisiana Illuminator, 2024