Lawmakers hear bipartisan push to create commission on intentional misrepresentation of service animals

Representative Kimberly Ferguson asked the Joint Committee on the Judiciary to give a favorable report to H.1686/S.1254, a resolve to create a commission to study intentional misrepresentation of service animals and its impacts on people with disabilities and public venues.

Ferguson told the committee she refiled the bill this session with Representative Kilcoyne as a co-sponsor and noted prior unanimous House support, saying the state needs to “join at least 27 other states” that have addressed the issue. She described a recent incident at a local establishment in which a small dog wearing a poorly marked vest repeatedly lunged and “aggressed” on passersby, stressing that the episode illustrated the danger to service dog teams and patrons.

Representatives of NEADS, the nonprofit that breeds, trains and places service dogs, testified in support. Kathy Zemaitis, NEADS’s chief development and programs officer, said the organization has bred, raised, task-trained and matched over 2,000 service dogs and launched a “Red Vest accessible” education initiative to help businesses understand service-dog access and appropriate responses when a dog is misrepresented. Zemaitis said NEADS provides free in-person training to hundreds of employees at Boston-area venues and described the legislation as complementary to that training.

Cara Milott, NEADS manager of client services and a licensed clinical social worker, told the committee that fake service dogs are “dangerous and disruptive” and recounted clients’ traumatic experiences when poorly trained or misrepresented dogs lunged at or otherwise endangered legitimate service teams. She said the absence of consequences in Massachusetts for those who impersonate service-dog teams leaves people with disabilities vulnerable and adds stress and risk to their daily lives.

Testimony ranged from the need for statutory tools to penalize deliberate impersonation to proposals that pair a legal framework with public education and business guidance. NEADS representatives emphasized training and prevention, noting their two-year training pipeline, volunteer and prison-based pretraining programs, and lifetime support for matched teams.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about training timelines and program scale. No formal committee action was taken during the hearing; witnesses asked for a favorable report so the bill could move through the House and Senate.