Hawaii Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

State and federal laws protect the rights of people with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in public places in Hawaii. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and state law offer similar protections, and staff at public accommodations in Hawaii must comply with both laws.

Here's what you need to know about state and federal service animal laws in Hawaii, including:

• which animals qualify as service animals in Hawaii
• where service animals are allowed, and
• the rules for having your service animal in public.

We'll also look at how these laws treat emotional support animals and how housing laws differ from public accommodation laws in Hawaii.

What Counts as a Service Animal in Hawaii?

In Hawaii, state law defines a service animal as a dog individually trained to do work or tasks to benefit someone with a disability, whether the disability is:

• physical
• sensory
• mental
• cognitive, or
• psychiatric.

Hawaii law says the tasks or work the dog does must directly relate to the individual's disability. (Hawaii Rev. Stat § 347-2.5.)

The definition under the ADA is roughly the same, with a few twists. For instance, a miniature horse can sometimes qualify as a service animal under the ADA. (28 CFR § 35.136(i).)

Examples of the types of service animals covered by Hawaii's social services law and the ADA include all of the following:

• a psychiatric service animal, which helps someone manage mental and emotional disabilities by, for example:
• interrupting self-harming behaviors, or
• providing calming pressure during anxiety or panic attacks
• a seizure alert animal, which alerts the disabled person of impending seizures and might also guard their handlers during a seizure
• an allergen alert animal, which lets the disabled person know of substances that could be dangerous
• a hearing dog, which alerts their handler to important sounds, such as:
• alarms
• ringing phones, or
• doorbells, and
• a guide dog, which helps someone who's blind or visually impaired navigate safely.

Emotional Support Animal Under the Law in Hawaii

Neither the ADA nor Hawaii's public accommodation laws cover the right to have emotional support animals (ESAs) in public places. ESAs provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional conditions.

Although these animals can have therapeutic benefits, they're not individually trained to perform specific tasks for someone with a disability, so they don't meet the definition of service animals. In fact, Hawaii's public accommodation laws explicitly exclude companion animals (pets) and comfort animals (like ESAs).

But other state laws and some federal laws offer some protection for people with disabilities to have emotional support animals in their homes (more on this below).

(Learn when an employer must allow your emotional support animal as a reasonable accommodation.)

How Are Public Accommodations Defined in Hawaii?

Hawaii's definition of a "public accommodation" (where people can take their service dogs) includes:

• all forms of public transportation and common carriers, including buses, trains, boats, airplanes, and cars
• hotels and places of lodging
• all places of public amusement, resort, or accommodation, and
• any other place to which the general public is invited.

The ADA is equally broad in defining public accommodations to which you can bring your service animal. (42 U.S.C §12181(7).)

What Are the Rules for Public Accommodations and Service Animals in Hawaii?

Under the ADA and Hawaii's public accommodations law, people with disabilities have the right to be accompanied by their service animals in restaurants, hotels, stores, theaters, and other public accommodations. But the owners of public accommodations are only required to admit an animal if:

• it meets the definition of a service dog, and
• it's accompanying someone with a disability.

Under the ADA, staff at a public accommodation can't ask you questions about your disability or demand to see certification, identification, or other proof of your animal's training or status. If it's not apparent what your service animal does, the establishment can only ask whether it's a service animal and what tasks it performs for you.

The ADA and Hawaii law prohibit public accommodations from charging a special admission fee or requiring you to pay any other extra cost to have your service animal with you. However, Hawaii law specifically says you'll be liable for any damage to the premises or facilities your animal causes. (Hawaii Rev. Stat. § 347-13(b).)

The ADA allows a public accommodation to exclude your service animal if it poses a direct threat to health and safety. For example, if your dog is aggressively barking and snapping at other customers, the facility can kick the dog out. Your animal can also be excluded if it's not housebroken or it's out of control and you're unable or unwilling to control it effectively. (28 CFR § 35.136(b).)

Even if your service animal isn't allowed into a public accommodation, you're still entitled to enter the facility and participate in activities, programs, and services without your animal.

What Are the Rules for Service Animals and ESAs in Hawaii Housing?

Both federal law and Hawaii's fair housing law prohibit housing discrimination based on disability and protect your right to have an assistance animal in your home—even when there's a "no-pets" policy.

Hawaii Housing Laws Include Service and Emotional Support Animals

Hawaii's housing rights law requires housing providers to make reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities. Under the law, that can include having an assistance animal to alleviate one or more symptoms of a disability. But the law allows the property owner to impose reasonable restrictions. (Hawaii Rev. Stat. § 515-3.)

The state housing rights law covers "assistance animals," which can be specially trained but don't have to be and can include, but aren't limited to, the following:

• service animals
• therapy animals
• comfort animals, and
• emotional support animals.

Under this law, assistance animals can include species other than dogs. So, the state's housing rights law covers your emotional support cat the same as a visually impaired person's guide dog.

Federal Fair Housing Laws and Assistance Animals

The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits discrimination in housing accommodations against those who use service animals. Under this federal housing rights law, you must be allowed full and equal access to all housing facilities.

If your lease or rental agreement includes a "no pets" provision, it doesn't apply to your service animal. And the FHA bars housing providers from charging you extra for having an assistance animal (although you'll likely have to pay for damage your animal causes).

Like Hawaii's fair housing law, the FHA requires housing providers to allow service dogs and emotional support animals if needed by people with disabilities. To fall under this provision, you must have a disability and a disability-related need for the animal. So, to qualify, your animal must perform tasks or services or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability.

Unlike the ADA's public accommodation rules, if your disability or the need for an assistance animal isn't apparent, the FHA allows housing providers to ask for documentation of your disability or your need for your animal. So, under the FHA, a blind person can't be asked to document the need for a guide dog but could be asked to document the need for an emotional support animal.

Like the ADA, under the FHA, an assistance animal that poses a threat to the health and safety of other people or property can be excluded (if there isn't a reasonable accommodation that could reduce the threat). However, an assistance animal should be excluded only based on evidence of the animal's actual conduct, and not its size or breed.

Learn more about assistance animals in housing from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).