Bill Text: VA SB177 | 2014 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Service dog; definition.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2014-04-04 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0616) [SB177 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2014-SB177-Enrolled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: 1. That §§3.2-6528, 51.5-40 through 51.5-42, 51.5-44, and 51.5-45 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows: §3.2-6528. Amount of license tax. The governing body of each county or city shall impose by ordinance a license tax on the ownership of dogs within its jurisdiction. The governing body of any locality that has adopted an ordinance pursuant to subsection B of §3.2-6524 shall impose by ordinance a license tax on the ownership of cats within its jurisdiction. The governing body may establish different rates of taxation for ownership of female dogs, male dogs, spayed or neutered dogs, female cats, male cats, and spayed or neutered cats. The tax for each dog or cat shall not be less than $1 and not more than $10 for each year. If the dog or cat has been spayed, the tax shall not exceed the tax provided for a male dog or cat. Any ordinance may provide for a license tax for kennels of 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 dogs or cats not to exceed $50 for any one such block of kennels. No license tax shall be levied on any dog that is trained and
serves as a guide dog for a blind person, that is trained and serves as a
hearing dog for a deaf or As used in this section, "hearing dog," §51.5-40. Nondiscrimination under state grants and programs. No §51.5-40.1. Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Hearing dog" means a dog trained to alert its owner by touch to sounds of danger and sounds to which the owner should respond. "Mental impairment" means (i) a disability
attributable to intellectual disability, autism, or any other neurologically
handicapping condition closely related to intellectual disability and requiring
treatment similar to that required by individuals with intellectual disability "Mobility-impaired person" means any person who has
completed training to use a dog for service or support because he is unable to
move about without the aid of crutches, a wheelchair, or any other form of
support or because of limited functional ability to ambulate, climb, descend,
sit, rise, or perform any related function.
"Otherwise disabled person" means any person who has a physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, or mental disability or a mental illness. "Person with a disability" means any person who has
a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his
major life activities
"Physical impairment" means any physical condition, anatomic loss, or cosmetic disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect, or illness. "Service dog" means a dog trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a mobility-impaired or otherwise disabled person. The work or tasks performed by a service dog shall be directly related to the individual's disability or disorder. Examples of work or tasks include providing nonviolent protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting an individual to the presence of allergens, retrieving items, carrying items, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability, and preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors. The provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship shall not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this definition. "Three-unit service dog team" means a team consisting of a trained service dog, a disabled person, and a person who is an adult and who has been trained to handle the service dog. §51.5-41. Discrimination against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities by employers prohibited. A. No employer shall discriminate in employment or promotion practices against an otherwise qualified person with a disability solely because of such disability. For the purposes of this section, an "otherwise qualified person with a disability" means a person qualified to perform the duties of a particular job or position and whose disability is unrelated to the person's ability to perform such duties or position or is unrelated to the person's qualifications for employment or promotion. B. It is the policy of the Commonwealth that persons with disabilities shall be employed in the state service, the service of the political subdivisions of the Commonwealth, in the public schools, and in all other employment supported in whole or in part by public funds on the same terms and conditions as other persons unless it is shown that the particular disability prevents the performance of the work involved. C. An employer shall make reasonable accommodation to the known physical and mental impairments of an otherwise qualified person with a disability, if necessary to assist such person in performing a particular job, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue burden on the employer. For the purposes of this section, "mental impairment" does not include active alcoholism or current drug addiction and does not include any mental impairment, disease, or defect that has been successfully asserted by an individual as a defense to any criminal charge. 1. In determining whether an accommodation would constitute an undue burden upon the employer, the following shall be considered: a. Hardship on the conduct of the employer's business, considering the nature of the employer's operation, including composition and structure of the employer's work force; b. Size of the facility where employment occurs; c. The nature and cost of the accommodations needed, taking into account alternate sources of funding or technical assistance included under §§51.5-165 and 51.5-173; d. The possibility that the same accommodations may be used by other prospective employees; e. Safety and health considerations of the person with a disability, other employees, and the public. 2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any accommodation 3. The employer has the right to choose among equally effective accommodations. 4. Nothing in this section shall require accommodations when the authority to make such accommodations is precluded under the terms of a lease or otherwise prohibited by statute, ordinance, or other regulation. 5. Building modifications made for the purposes of such reasonable accommodation may be made without requiring the remainder of the existing building to comply with the requirements of the Uniform Statewide Building Code. D. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an employer from
refusing to hire or promote, from disciplining, transferring, or discharging or
taking any other personnel action pertaining to an applicant or an employee
who, because of his disability, is unable to adequately perform his duties, or
cannot perform such duties in a manner which would not endanger his health or
safety or the health or safety of others. Nothing in this section shall subject
an employer to any legal liability resulting from the refusal to employ or
promote or from the discharge, transfer, discipline of, or the taking of any
other personnel action pertaining to a person with a disability who, because of
his disability, is unable to adequately perform his duties, or cannot perform
such duties in a manner E. Nothing in this section shall be construed as altering the provisions of the Virginia Minimum Wage Act (§40.1-28.8 et seq.). F. This section shall not apply to employers covered by the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. G. No employer who has hired any person because of the requirements of this section shall be liable for any alleged negligence in such hiring. §51.5-42. Discrimination against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities by educational institutions prohibited. A. No public educational institution or private educational
institution B. This section shall not apply to any public or private
educational institution §51.5-44. Rights of persons with disabilities in public places and places of public accommodation. A. A person with a disability has the same rights as other persons to the full and free use of the streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, public facilities, and other public places. For purposes of this section, a "person with a disability" means a person whose disability is unrelated to his ability to utilize and benefit from a place of public accommodation or public service. B. A person with a disability is entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of all common carriers, airplanes, motor vehicles, railroad trains, motor buses, streetcars, subways, boats or any other public conveyances or modes of transportation, restaurants, hotels, lodging places, places of public accommodation, amusement or resort, public entities including schools, and other places to which the general public is invited subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons. C. Each town, city or county, individually or through
transportation district commissions, shall ensure that persons with
disabilities have access to the public transportation within its jurisdiction
by either (i) use of the same transportation facilities or carriers available
to the general public D. Nothing in this title shall be construed to require retrofitting of any public transit equipment or to require the retrofitting, renovation, or alteration of buildings or places to a degree more stringent than that required by the applicable building code in effect at the time the building permit for such building or place is issued. E. Every totally or partially blind person shall have the
right to be accompanied by a dog §51.5-45. Right of persons with disabilities to housing accommodations. A. All persons with disabilities unrelated to their ability
to acquire, rent, or maintain property shall be entitled to full and equal
opportunity to acquire, as other members of the general public, any housing
accommodations offered for sale, rent, lease, or compensation, subject to the
conditions and limitations established by law and applying alike to all
persons. "Housing accommodations" for the purpose of this section
means any real property, or portion thereof, which is used or occupied or is intended,
arranged, or designed to be used or occupied, as the home, residence, or
sleeping place of one or more human beings, but B. Every C. Nothing in this section shall require any person offering for sale, renting, leasing, or providing for compensation real property to modify that real property or provide a higher degree of care for a person with a disability than for a person who is not disabled, except as provided in § 36-99.5, nor shall anything in this section require any person who is selling, renting, leasing, or providing for compensation real property to sell, rent, lease or provide such property to any person who would constitute a direct threat to the property or safety of others. |