§52. Guide or service dog; rights and privileges of owners and trainers; penalties for violations

A. Any blind person, visually impaired person, person who is deaf or hard of hearing, or person with any other physical disability who is accompanied by a properly controlled dog which such person has been taught to use as a guide or for service at a qualified dog guide or service school, or any person who is qualified to provide training for a guide dog or service animal and is accompanied by a guide dog in training, is entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of all public accommodation, amusement, or resort, and other places to which the general public is invited, and shall be entitled to take such dog into such conveyances and places, subject only to the accommodations and limitations applicable to all persons not so accompanied, provided that the dog shall not occupy a seat in any public conveyance.

B. Any person, firm, or corporation, or agent, representative, or employee of any person, firm, or corporation who deprives any blind person, visually impaired person, person who is deaf or hard of hearing, or person with any other physical disability, or any person who is accompanied by a guide dog in training of any right conferred by Subsection A of this Section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined a sum not to exceed five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the parish jail for a period not to exceed ninety days, or both, within the discretion of the judge; and for every such offense such person shall forfeit and pay a sum not to exceed five hundred dollars to any person aggrieved thereby, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction in the parish where such offense was committed.

C. The provisions of Subsections A and B of this Section shall be inapplicable unless the person, as described in Subsections A and B of this Section, accompanied by a guide or service dog, shall furnish evidence as to the training of the dog, which evidence shall be obtained from the training agency or school by which the dog has been trained. If the person is accompanied by a guide dog in training as described in Subsection A of this Section, that person shall furnish evidence of his qualifications to provide training for a guide dog, or the provisions of Subsections A and B of this Section shall be inapplicable.

Added by Acts 1954, No. 83, §1. Amended by Acts 1962, No. 33, §1; Acts 1981, No. 407, §1; Acts 1993, No. 763, §1; Acts 2009, No. 373, §1; Acts 2014, No. 811, §10, eff. June 23, 2014; Acts 2017, No. 146, §4.