§ 28-1009.01. Violence on a service animal; interference with a service animal; penalty.

(1) A person commits the offense of violence on a service animal when he or she (a) intentionally injures, harasses, or threatens to injure or harass or (b) attempts to intentionally injure, harass, or threaten an animal that he or she knows or has reason to believe is a service animal for a blind or visually impaired person, a deaf or hard of hearing person, or a physically limited person. (2) A person commits the offense of interference with a service animal when he or she (a) intentionally impedes, interferes, or threatens to impede or interfere or (b) attempts to intentionally impede, interfere, or threaten to impede or interfere with an animal that he or she knows or has reason to believe is a service animal for a blind or visually impaired person, a deaf or hard of hearing person, or a physically limited person. (3) Evidence that the defendant initiated or continued conduct toward an animal as described in subsection (1) or (2) of this section after being requested to avoid or discontinue such conduct by the blind, visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, or physically limited person being served or assisted by the animal shall create a rebuttable presumption that the conduct of the defendant was initiated or continued intentionally. (4) For purposes of this section: (a) Blind person means a person with totally impaired vision or with vision, with or without correction, which is so severely impaired that the primary means of receiving information is through other sensory input, including, but not limited to, braille, mechanical reproduction, synthesized speech, or readers; (b) Deaf person means a person with totally impaired hearing or with hearing, with or without amplification, which is so severely impaired that the primary means of receiving spoken language is through other sensory input, including, but not limited to, lip reading, sign language, finger spelling, or reading; (c) Hard of hearing person means a person who is unable to hear air conduction thresholds at an average of forty decibels or greater in the person's better ear; (d) Physically limited person means a person having limited ambulatory abilities, including, but not limited to, having a permanent impairment or condition that requires the person to use a wheelchair or to walk with difficulty or insecurity to the extent that the person is insecure or exposed to danger; and (e) Visually impaired person means a person having a visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the person's better eye with correction or having a limitation to the person's field of vision so that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angular distance not greater than twenty degrees. (5) Violence on a service animal or interference with a service animal is a Class III misdemeanor. History: Laws 1997, LB 814, § 1; Laws 2008, LB806, § 11; Laws 2019, LB248, § 5.