Georgia Service Dog Codes

Any state laws supplement and complement the national disability discrimination laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Air Carrier Access Act and the Rehab Act.

ADR COMMENT:  Georgia only grants public access and housing rights residents with physical or sensory disabilities.  Mental health disabilities are not covered under state law.

ADR COMMENT:  Georgia only grants public access rights for service dogs in training to individuals with proper credentials for an accredited school for assistance dogs and the animal must be wearing identification for the school.

§ 16-11-107.1. Harassment of assistance dog by humans or other dogs; penalty

  • (a)  As used in this Code section, the term:
    • (1)  “Assistance dog” means a dog that is or has been trained by a licensed or certified person, organization, or agency to perform physical tasks for a physically challenged person. Assistance dogs include guide or leader dogs that guide individuals who are legally blind; hearing dogs that alert individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to specific sounds; and service dogs for individuals with disabilities other than blindness or deafness, which are trained to perform a variety of physical tasks, including, but not limited to, pulling a wheelchair, lending balance support, picking up dropped objects, or providing assistance in a medical crisis.
    • (2)  “Harass” means to engage in any conduct directed toward an assistance dog that is knowingly likely to impede or interfere with the assistance dog’s performance of its duties or that places the blind, deaf, or physically limited person being served or assisted by the dog in danger of injury.
    • (3)  “Notice” means an oral or otherwise communicated warning proscribing the behavior of another person and a request that the person stop the particular behavior.
  • (b)  Any person who knowingly and intentionally harasses or attempts to harass an assistance dog, knowing the dog to be an assistance dog, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 90 days or a fine not to exceed $500.00, or both.
  • (c)  Any person who has received notice that his or her behavior is interfering with the use of an assistance dog who continues to knowingly and intentionally harass an assistance dog, knowing the dog to be an assistance dog, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 90 days or a fine not to exceed $500.00, or both, provided that any person who is convicted of a second or subsequent violation of this subsection shall be punished as for a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.
  • (d)  Any person who knowingly and intentionally allows his or her dog to harass an assistance dog, knowing the dog to be an assistance dog, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 90 days or a fine not to exceed $500.00, or both, provided that any person who is convicted of a second or subsequent violation of this subsection shall be punished as for a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.
  • (e)  Any person who knowingly and intentionally allows his or her dog to cause death or physical harm to an assistance dog by rendering a part of the assistance dog’s body useless or by seriously disfiguring the assistance dog, knowing the dog to be an assistance dog, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.

Current through the 2017 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

§ 30-4-1. Definitions

As used in this chapter, the term:

  • (1)  “Housing accommodations” means any real property or portion thereof which is used or occupied, or intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied, as the home, residence, or sleeping place of one or more human beings but shall not include any single-family residence the occupants of which rent, lease, or furnish for compensation not more than one room therein.
  • (2)  “Physically disabled person” means any person, regardless of age, who is subject to a physiological defect or deficiency regardless of its cause, nature, or extent that renders the person unable to move about without the aid of crutches, a wheelchair, or any other form of support, or that limits the person’s functional ability to ambulate, climb, descend, sit, rise, or to perform any related function.

§ 30-4-2. Right to equal public accommodations; right to be accompanied by guide dog or service dog

  • (a)  Blind persons, persons with visual disabilities, persons with physical disabilities, and deaf persons are entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges on all common carriers, airplanes, motor vehicles, railroad trains, motor buses, streetcars, boats, or any other public conveyances or modes of transportation and at hotels, lodging places, places of public accommodation, amusement, or resort, 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.
  • (b)
    • (1)  Every totally or partially blind person shall have the right to be accompanied by a guide dog, and every physically disabled person and every deaf person shall have the right to be accompanied by a service dog, especially trained for the purpose, in any of the places listed in subsection (a) of this Code section without being required to pay an extra charge for the guide or service dog; provided, however, that he or she shall be liable for any damage done to the premises or facilities by such dog. In addition, if such totally or partially blind person, physically disabled person, or deaf person is a student at a private or public school in this state, such person shall have the right to be accompanied by a guide dog or service dog subject to liability for damage as provided in the preceding sentence. The guide dog or service dog must be identified as having been trained by a school for seeing eye, hearing, service, or guide dogs.
    • (2)  Every person engaged in the training of a guide dog or service dog for the purpose of accompanying a person as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall have the same right to be accompanied by such dog being trained as the totally or partially blind person, deaf person, or physically disabled person has under paragraph (1) of this subsection, so long as such trainer is identified as an agent or employee of a school for seeing eye, hearing, service, or guide dogs.
    • (3)  Every person engaged in the raising of a dog for training as a guide dog or service dog for the purpose of accompanying a person as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall have the same right to be accompanied by such dog being raised for training as the totally or partially blind person, deaf person, or physically disabled person has under paragraph (1) of this subsection, so long as:
      • (A)  Such dog is being held on a leash and is under the control of the person raising such dog for an accredited school for seeing eye, hearing, service, or guide dogs;
      • (B)  Such person has on his or her person and available for inspection credentials from the accredited school for which the dog is being raised; and
      • (C)  Such dog is wearing a collar, leash, or other appropriate apparel or device that identifies such dog with the accredited school for which such dog is being raised.
  • (c)  Every totally or partially blind person operating a vending stand shall have the right to be accompanied by a trained guide dog on the entire premises of his or her vending operation.

§ 30-4-3. Right to housing accommodations

  • (a)  Blind persons, visually disabled persons, physically disabled persons, and deaf persons shall be entitled to rent, lease, or purchase, as other members of the general public, all housing accommodations offered for rent, lease, or other compensation in this state, subject to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons.
  • (b)  Every totally or partially blind person, every physically disabled person, and every deaf person who has a guide dog or service dog or who obtains a guide dog or service dog and every person engaged in the training of a guide dog or service dog shall be entitled to full and equal access to all housing accommodations provided for in this Code section, and he or she shall not be required to pay extra compensation for such guide dog or service dog. However, he or she shall be liable for any damage done to the premises by such guide dog or service dog.
  • (c)  Nothing in this Code section shall require any person renting, leasing, or otherwise providing real property for compensation to modify his or her property in any way or provide a higher degree of care for a blind, visually disabled, physically disabled, or deaf person than for a person who is not so disabled.

§ 30-4-4. Denial of or interference with admittance to or enjoyment of facilities or exercise of rights

Any person, firm, corporation, or the agent of any person, firm, or corporation who denies or interferes with admittance to or enjoyment of the facilities enumerated in this chapter or otherwise interferes with the rights of a totally or partially blind person, physically disabled person, or deaf person or person engaged in the training or raising of a guide dog or service dog as provided by this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $2,000.00, imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both.