About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

2012 Washington Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2012)

handle is hein.sag/sagwa0119 and id is 1 raw text is: AGO 2012 No. 1 - February 09, 2012 | | Attorney General of Washington CITIES-LAW AGAINST DISCRIMINATION-PREEMPTION-Whether State Law Requiring Food Establishments To Accommodate Trained Guide Dogs And Miniature Horses Preempts An Ordinance 01 A First Class City Requiring Accommodation 01 A Broader Class 01 Animals An ordinance ol a first class city that prohibits lood establishments from treating people dillerently based upon the use ol additional types of service animals is not preempted by a state law prohibiting dillerent treatment based only on the use ol trained guide dogs and miniature horses. February 9, 2012 The Honorable Deborah Eddy State Representative. District 48 PO Box 40600 Cite As: Olympia, WA 98504-0600 AGO 2012 No. I Dear Representative Eddy: By letter previously acknowledged, you have requested an opinion on a question that we have paraphrased as follows: Does RCW 49.60.218 preempt a first class city Irom enacting a local ordinance requiring lood establishments to accommodate certain types ol animals in addition to accommodating trained guide dogs and miniature horses? BRIEF ANSWER A local ordinance is preempted by state law only when the legislature has clearly demonstrated intent to occupy the field addressed by the statute, or the local ordinance directly conflicts with the state law. The legislature has not expressed clear intent to occupy the field of access to food establishments by individuals who use service animals to assist with a disability. Nor would an ordinance of the type you ask about create a direct conflict with state law. An ordinance that prohibits a wider scope of activity than that prohibited by state law does not create a conflict for preemption purposes. Accordingly, an ordinance that goes further than the state statute to prohibit food establishments from treating people differently based on the use of additional types of service animals would not be preempted by state law. /original page 21 BACKGROUND The Washington Law Against Discrimination generally prohibits excluding or providing different treatment to persons based on their use of a trained guide dog or service animal in a wide range of establishments that are open to the public. RCW 49.60.215. {.4 The term service animal is broadly defined to include any animal trained to assist or accommodate a sensory, mental, or physical disability. RCW 49.60.040(24). In 2011. the legislature enacted Substitute House Bill 1728, narrowing the definition of service animal applicable to food establishments. Laws of 2011, ch. 237 (amending RCW 49.60.215 and enacting RCW 49.60.218). The bill amended RCW 49.60.215 to state that the general prohibition against treating people differently based upon a person's use of a back

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most