Penal Law § 242.00 · Article 242. Offenses Against Service Animals and Handlers
Definitions
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 242.00 Definitions.
For purposes of this article:
1. "Service animal" shall mean any animal that has been partnered with a person who has a disability and has been trained or is being trained, by a qualified person, to aid or guide a person with a disability.
2. "Disability" shall have the same meaning as provided in section two hundred ninety-two of the executive law.
3. "Handler" shall mean a disabled person using a service animal.
4. "Formal training program" or "certified trainer" shall mean an institution, group or individual who has documentation and community recognition as a provider of service animals.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PEN242.00
- Text hash
- sha256 f927739d8970d32ab062840b0a57f2d2cdc0b1de7fe70b7cadbea3327ba9307b
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.