Bill > AB238

Introduced Session

This bill prohibits hotels, inns, and motels from discriminating against dog handlers who are accompanied by search and rescue dogs in the provision of accommodations. Under current law, a public place of accommodation, including a lodging establishment, may not refuse entrance into, or use of, or otherwise deny the full and equal enjoyment of the establishment to a person with a disability or to a service animal trainer because the person is accompanied by a service animal, unless accommodation of the service animal would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of the accommodations, goods, or services provided or would jeopardize the safe operation of the public accommodation. Also under current law, a public accommodation may not charge a person with a disability or a trainer a higher price than the regular rate, including a deposit or surcharge, for the full and equal enjoyment of the public accommodation because the person is accompanied by a service animal, and a public accommodation is prohibited from communicating, in writing, that entrance into, the use of, or the full and equal enjoyment of the public accommodation will be denied to a person with a disability or a trainer because he or she is accompanied by a service animal or that the patronage of such a person is unwelcome, objectionable, or unacceptable because he or she is accompanied by a service animal. In addition, current law requires a public accommodation to modify its policies, practices, and procedures to allow the full and equal enjoyment of the public accommodation by a person with a disability or a trainer who is accompanied by a service animal and requires those policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that a person with a disability or a trainer who is accompanied by a service animal is not separated from the service animal, that the service animal is allowed to accompany the person with a disability or the trainer to all areas of the public accommodation that are open to the general public, and that the person with a disability or the trainer is not segregated from other patrons of the public accommodation. This bill provides the same protections for a dog handler who is accompanied by a search and rescue dog that is wearing a harness or cape to identify the dog as a search and rescue dog in a public accommodation that is a hotel, inn, or motel. The bill also provides that a dog handler who is accompanied by a search and rescue dog in a hotel, inn, or motel is responsible for any damage the dog causes to the establishment.

Committee Categories

Deb Andraca (D)*,  Chanz Green (R)*,  Jeff Mursau (R)*,  Jerry O'Connor (R)*,  Jim Piwowarczyk (R)*,  Jesse James (R),  Van Wanggaard (R), 

Representative Sinicki added as a coauthor (on 06/24/2025)

Official Document