2026-09-10 · Massachusetts · Legislation · Did not pass

What happened. Massachusetts boards face two opposite problems with assistance animals: bad-faith requests, and liability for wrongly denying good-faith ones. The 194th General Court filed a study commission for each. Neither survived.

H.1534 — access to emotional support animals

H.1534, An Act relative to a commission to study access to emotional support animals in residential housing, was filed by Representative Bradley H. Jones, Jr., the House Minority Leader.¹

• Referred to the Joint Committee on Housing 27 February 2025
• Heard 15 October 2025
• Reported favorably 12 January 2026, referred to the concurrent Rules committee
• Discharged to House Rules 28 January 2026, where it remained

It cleared its policy committee on a favorable report, which distinguishes it from the bills disposed of by study order. It was killed by the Rules bottleneck instead.

S.1254 and H.4371 — misrepresentation of a service animal

A Resolve, S.1254 (Sen. Michael F. Rush), and a bill, H.1686 (Reps. Kimberly N. Ferguson and Meghan K. Kilcoyne) redrafted as H.4371, would each have created a commission to study the intentional misrepresentation of a service animal.²

• S.1254: reported favorably from Judiciary 24 July 2025, recommended to pass by Rules and referred to Senate Ways and Means 23 October 2025. No action since.
• H.4371: reported favorably from Judiciary 11 August 2025, discharged to House Rules 28 August 2025. Pending there.

Both died in the same place as H.1534: not on the merits, but in Rules and Ways and Means.

1. H.1534 bill history, Massachusetts General Court ↩
2. H.4371, commission to study intentional misrepresentation of a service animal — bill page ↩
3. Resolve S.1254, commission to study the intentional misrepresentation of a service animal — bill page ↩