Section 211 – Therapy animal handling — Policy.

• (1) As used in this section:
  • (a) “Animal-assisted intervention” means an intervention designed to promote improvement in an individual’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive functioning through interactions with a specially trained animal.
  • (b) “Local education agency” means a school district or charter school.
  • (c)
    • (i) “Therapy animal” means an animal that:
      • (A) provides affection and comfort to an individual for emotional support;
      • (B) is accompanied by a therapy animal handler; and
      • (C) is trained to provide animal-assisted intervention.
    • (ii) “Therapy animal” does not include a service animal or support animal as those terms are defined in Section 62A-5b-102.
  • (d) “Therapy animal handler” means an individual who is trained to handle a therapy animal for animal-assisted interventions.

• (2)
  • (a) If a school within a local education agency provides animal-assisted interventions through therapy animals, the local education agency shall adopt a policy for proper handling of a therapy animal on school grounds.
  • (b) The policy described in Subsection (2)(a) shall include:
    • (i) local or national certification or registration requirements for a therapy animal and therapy animal handler;
    • (ii) guidelines for when a therapy animal and therapy animal handler are allowed on school grounds;
    • (iii) notice requirements for parents, students, and school faculty and staff regarding the use of a therapy animal on school grounds; and
    • (iv) guidelines to prevent students and staff who have an animal allergy or are uncomfortable around animals from interacting with a therapy animal on school grounds.

• (3) This section does not require a school to allow the use of a therapy animal.

Enacted by Chapter 309, 2021 General Session

Technically renumbered to avoid duplication of section number also enacted in SB107, Chapter 435.