Montana Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

Under Montana's human rights law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities can bring service animals to all "public accommodations," including stores, businesses, hotels and motels, restaurants, theaters, schools, and other public places.

Public accommodations in Montana must comply with both state and federal law (the laws are similar, but federal housing rights laws offer more protections in some cases).

Below, we explain your right to have your animal in public places under Montana law and federal law, including:

• which public accommodations are required to allow service animals
• which animals qualify as service animals, and
• when landlords need to allow emotional support animals in rental housing.

What Are Public Accommodations in Montana?

In Montana, you can bring your service animal to any place that caters to the public (offers facilities, services, or goods to the general public). (Mont. Code § 49-2-101(20)(a).) Montana's law includes a long list of examples of public accommodations, including:

• hotels and inns
• restaurants, ice cream parlors, cafes, and bars
• barbershops and salons
• swimming pools, skating rinks, golf courses, and resorts
• theaters, and
• hospitals.

Under the ADA, the definition of public accommodations is both broad and detailed. (42 U.S.C. § 36.104.) It includes all of the following:

• hotels and other lodging establishments
• public transportation, including stations
• restaurants and other places that serve food and drink
• any place of public gathering, such as a sports stadium
• places of exercise or recreation, including gyms and bowling alleys
• libraries, museums, and other places where items are collected or displayed publicly
• educational institutions, and
• social service centers, like:
  • senior centers
  • homeless shelters, and
  • food banks.

Which Animals Are Covered by Public Accommodation Laws in Montana?

In Montana, a service animal is defined as a dog or miniature horse that is individually trained to provide assistance to someone with a disability. Montana's definition of a service animal specifically excludes emotional support animals. (Mont. Code § 49-4-203(2).)

The ADA also defines a service animal as a dog (and sometimes a miniature horse) that's individually trained to perform disability-related tasks or do work for the benefit of a person with a disability. Examples of service animals that must be allowed into public accommodations under the ADA include:

• hearing dogs, which alert their handlers to alarms, doorbells, and other essential sounds
• guide dogs, which help those who are visually impaired to move around
• psychiatric service animals, which help their handlers with mental and emotional disabilities by, for example, interrupting self-harming behaviors, reminding handlers to take medication, checking spaces for intruders, or providing calming pressure during panic attacks
• seizure alert animals, which let their handlers know of impending seizures and might also guard their handlers during seizure activity, and
• allergen alert animals, which let their handlers know of substances that could be dangerous (such as peanuts).

Neither the ADA nor Montana's public accommodation or disability rights laws cover pets. But state law requires public accommodations to allow service animals in training, as long as the animal is properly outfitted to identify it as a service animal in training. (Mont. Code § 49-4-214(3)-(4).)

Emotional Support Animals Under the ADA and Montana Law

Emotional support animals (ESAs) aren't merely pets. ESAs provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional disabilities or conditions. Although these animals often have therapeutic benefits, they aren't individually trained to perform specific tasks for their handlers.

Under the ADA and Montana law, owners of public accommodations aren't required to allow emotional support animals—only service animals. But there are federal protections for people with disabilities who need to have ESAs in their homes. (See below.)

Public Accommodation Rules for Your Service Animal in Montana

Under the ADA, a public accommodation can't ask you 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 your animal is a service animal, and
• what tasks the animal performs for you.

The ADA and Montana 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, you'll generally be financially responsible for any damage your animal causes.

Under the ADA, your service animal can be excluded from a public accommodation if it poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others. For example, the facility can demand you remove an aggressively barking dog. Your animal can also be excluded if it isn't housebroken or it's out of control and you're unable or unwilling to control it. (28 C.F.R. § 36.302(c)(2).)

But under the ADA, you still have the right to enter a public accommodation, use its services, or purchase goods without your service animal.

Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals in Montana Housing

Both the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Montana law prohibit discrimination in rental housing accommodations against those who use service animals. You must be allowed full and equal access to all housing facilities with your service animal.

And under Montana state law, your landlord can't charge you extra for having a service animal, although you can be held responsible for damage your animal causes. If your lease or rental agreement includes a "no pets" provision, it doesn't apply to your service animal.

The Fair Housing Act requires most housing facilities to allow "assistance animals" if the animal is necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. Under the FHA, assistance animals include service dogs and emotional support animals. To qualify for this protection, you must have:

• a disability, and
• a disability-related need for your assistance animal.

To meet the FHA's definition of an assistance animal, your animal must perform tasks or services or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability.

If your disability or need for a service animal or emotional support animal isn't apparent, housing providers can ask for documentation of your disability or your need for the animal. So, a landlord can't ask a blind person about the need for a guide dog because that should be apparent. But a landlord can ask a deaf tenant about the need for an ESA.

Under the FHA, whether your disability is apparent or not, a housing provider can't ask you for details about the nature or severity of your disability. But the law does allow landlords to exclude an assistance animal that poses a threat to the health and safety of others, as long as the exclusion is based on the animal's behavior and not just its breed or size.

(Learn more about your housing rights with a service dog or emotional support animal from the Department of Housing and Urban Development at hud.gov.)