Current New Jersey law allows students with a disability to bring service animals into classrooms and school grounds, but fails to specifically allow them to bring service animals (including service dogs) onto school busses. New Jersey Assembly Bill 3690 and Senate Bill 2601 seek to remedy that oversight by clearly allowing disabled students to bring a service animal on school busses. These bills will be heard by the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee on Monday, January 26, 2015.
The American Kennel Club strongly supports the training and use of dogs by humans, whose lives are enriched by dogs’ performing essential services. Dogs provide a wide variety of valuable services including: handicapped assistance dogs; drug, bomb, and arson detection dogs; and tracking dogs to locate missing person and fugitives. The AKC encourages the continuation and further development of the use of dogs for these and similar purposes.
The AKC supports the rights of persons who require a dog to perform essential services to be permitted to keep a dog without regard to the dog’s size, phenotype or breed.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) strongly supports both AB 3690 and SB 2601.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Both bills will be heard by the New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee on Monday, January 26. New Jersey residents are strongly encouraged to email the committee members and recommend they approve Assembly Bill 3690 and Senate Bill 2601 as currently written.
State Senator Joseph F. Vitale, Chair – SenVitale@njleg.org
State Senator Fred H. Madden – SenMadden@njleg.org
State Senator Dawn Marie Addiego – SenAddiego@njleg.org
State Senator Diane B. Allen – SenAllen@njleg.org
State Senator Richard J. Codey – SenCodey@njleg.org
State Senator Robert M. Gordon – SenGordon@njleg.org
State Senator Ronald L. Rice – SenRice@njleg.org
State Senator Robert W. Singer – SenSinger@njleg.org
State Senator Jim Whelan – SenWhelan@njleg.org
For more information, contact AKC’s Government Relations Department at (919) 816-3720, or email doglaw@akc.org.