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Senate committee advances bill to stop HOAs from banning service dogs in training
Summary
A Senate Judiciary committee voted to refer House File 688 to the Senate floor after testimony that the bill would extend housing protections now afforded to fully trained assistance dogs to dogs still in training, allowing more volunteers to raise and socialize service dogs.
A bill to prevent homeowners associations from blocking people from housing service dogs in training advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a voice vote.
Supporters said the bill would extend already existing protections for people who rely on fully trained assistance dogs to the volunteers who raise and train those animals. “We estimate that it costs about $45,000 to raise and train each of our dogs,” Jeff Johnson, executive director of Can Do Canines, told the committee. “But we give them away free of charge because few of our clients could even come close to affording that.”
The bill’s author, identified in committee as Senator Wesselen, said assistance dog organizations rely on hundreds of volunteers across Minnesota to raise and socialize animals from a few months old until placement. Johnson said three Minnesota organizations certified by Assistance Dogs International rely on “well over 1,000 volunteers across Minnesota” and that some volunteers host dogs for months or years; others are inmates in prison programs.
Committee members asked how the bill would interact with existing federal and state law and with landlord-tenant leases. Johnson said federal law and Minnesota law already prohibit discrimination against people who use active service dogs; the bill would extend those protections to dogs in training within private housing governed by homeowners associations. When asked whether the bill would override a lease that barred pets, committee testimony noted the bill is aimed at HOA rules and that landlords and lease terms raise different legal issues.
Senator Howe, Senator Limmer and others questioned whether the bill would require written certification from the supervising assistance-dog organization before a homeowner receives the accommodation; committee testimony confirmed the bill permits a landlord or HOA to require written certification that a dog is part of an organization’s training program. Committee members also discussed at what age puppies enter volunteer homes; Johnson said puppies generally begin at a whelping facility and later go to homes after initial care, and are not “little puppies that are not house trained.”
Senator Wesselen moved that House File 688 be referred to the Senate floor; the committee chair called the voice vote and the motion prevailed.
Votes at a glance: House File 688 — referral to Senate floor by voice vote; no roll-call tally recorded in the transcript.
What’s next: The bill was sent to the Senate floor for further consideration.
