SB3687 Summary

• Renames the "Guide Dog Access Act" to the "Service Dog Access Act" and expands the definition of service dogs to include animals trained for physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disabilities beyond just guide and seizure-alert dogs.

• Defines "service dog" as any dog individually trained to perform work or tasks directly related to a person's disability, including navigation for blind individuals, alerting deaf persons to sounds, wheelchair assistance, seizure response, allergen detection, PTSD support, and preventing impulsive or destructive behaviors.

• Explicitly excludes emotional support animals and dogs providing only comfort, companionship, or crime deterrent effects from the definition of service dogs.

• Requires service dogs to wear harnesses and owners to present credentials from a training school to access public accommodations under the Illinois Human Rights Act.

• Updates the Assistance Animal Damages Act and White Cane Law to use the new "service dog" definition and removes outdated references to specific dog types like "guide dogs" and "hearing ear dogs."