How to Get Your Emotional Support Animal in New Mexico Certified

New Mexico’s definition of public accommodations includes all buildings and transportation that are open to the public. The ADA’s definition is similarly broad, but it goes into a bit more detail about locations that are included under the public accommodations umbrella. Under the ADA, public accommodations include: hotels and other lodging establishments; restaurants and other places that serve food and drink; service establishments; any place of public gathering, such as an auditorium or convention center; gyms, parks, zoos, bowling alleys, and other places of exercise or recreation; schools, libraries, museums, and other places where items are collected or displayed publicly; and social service centers.

If it is not obvious what tasks an animal has been trained to perform, an establishment may only ask whether the animal is a service animal required due to a disability and what task(s) the animal has been trained to perform.

Both the ADA and New Mexico’s Service Animal Act allow qualified public accommodations to deny are remove a service animal if it is not housebroken, out of control, or posing a direct threat to the health and safety of other patrons. Even if a service animal is excluded, the disabled individual may still enter the establishment without it.

All common carriers or forms of public transportation are covered under the public accommodations umbrella under both New Mexico and federal law.

Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s tasks or the individual’s disabilities, in which case handlers should use an alternative method to control the animal, such as verbal commands. There is not a specific vest, ID tag, or harness that must be worn.

Individuals with service animals may request the use of their service animal in the workplace as a reasonable accommodation from their employer or prospective employer. Employers may ask for documentation stating how the animal will assist the individual with performing their job requirements. Generally employers must provide reasonable accommodations, unless they would cause undue financial hardship or change the fundamental nature of the business.

Generally yes, service animals are allowed in areas of healthcare facilities that the public can access, such as waiting rooms, clinics, and examination rooms. They may, however, be barred from areas where the animal’s presence could compromise sterility, such as operating rooms or burn units.

A person who knowingly interferes with the work of a qualified service animal is guilty of a misdemeanor in New Mexico and may be ordered to pay restitution.

New Mexico follows the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which defines a service animal as a dog (regardless of breed or size) trained to do work or perform tasks to assist a qualified individual with a diability, and may include psychiatric service dogs. Minature horses are excluded in this definition.

Airlines can require a passenger to provide a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) form attesting to the animal’s health, behavior, and training and a U.S. DOT form attesting that the animal can either not relieve itself or can relieve itself in a sanitary manner (if the animal will be on a flight that is 8 or more hours).

The ACAA does not address service animals in-training, so airlines are not required to carry them as they do not meet the requirements of an ACAA-defined service animal. However, airlines can make their own individual policies.