FL H1077

Creates comprehensive service animal protections under new section 413.083, establishing rights for individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by service animals in public accommodations and housing without documentation requirements or deposits.

Defines service animals as domesticated animals individually trained to perform disability-related tasks (including physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or mental disabilities), excluding animals providing only emotional support or companionship.

Allows public accommodations to ask whether an animal is a service animal and what tasks it performs, and permits exclusion only if the animal poses a direct threat, fails to remain under handler control, or displays inappropriate behavior like growling, excessive barking, or biting.

Establishes tiered penalties: first offense is a noncriminal violation with $50 civil penalty option; second or subsequent offenses are second-degree misdemeanors for denying service animal access to public accommodations or housing.

Extends the same rights and liability protections to service animal trainers while engaged in training, and creates a second-degree misdemeanor for fraudulently claiming to be a service animal owner or trainer.