Committee advances bill imposing new penalties for service-animal fraud and expanding protections for handlers

Representative Thomas reintroduced House Bill 668 (LC462001S), a substitute bill that would update Georgia law on service animals, including creating penalties for misrepresenting an animal as a service dog and expanding protections for handlers.

"The statutes currently on the books in Georgia with respect to service animals and service dogs and training are extremely problematic," the sponsor told the committee, and the substitute aims to align state law with Department of Justice implementing rules for service animals.

Casey Whitlet, who identified herself as a service-dog handler and owner-trainer, described why the bill matters to handlers and recounted an incident in 2019 when another dog attacked her service dog, leaving the handler's dog blind and retired from service. She told the committee that current Georgia law did not provide a path to seek charges against the other dog's handler after that attack.

The substitute…