Bill to require NM first responders to look for service animals in emergencies advances

A bill that would require first responders to make a “reasonable effort” to search for a qualified service animal during an emergency has made it to the Senate.

House Bill 111 passed in a 59-8 vote with two excused and one absent Thursday afternoon in Santa Fe.

If a first responder is made aware that the qualified service animal is missing, the bill states, “the first responder, to the extent practicable and while prioritizing human safety and security, shall make a reasonable effort to search for the qualified service animal.”

Rep. Marian Matthews, D-Albuquerque, sponsored HB111 after learning about Albuquerque resident Rose Romero, a 70-year-old visually impaired woman, losing her service dog — almost 14-year-old black Lab, Ivy — due to asphyxiation following a waterline break that took place outside her Northeast Albuquerque home that caused a gas leak.

Romero said it took 11 days before Ivy was found.

Because of Ivy’s death, Romero and other residents set up petitions to enact what they hope to call Ivy’s Law, which would ensure animals get the same rescue efforts humans would during an emergency.

“There’s no reason that should have taken 11 days,” Matthews said.

Rep. Martin Zamora, R-Clovis, said before the vote he was worried about whether looking for a service animal would take away from other first responder duties during an emergency.

“I look forward to supporting the bill,” he said, “but I just wanted to express my concerns that we don’t tie first responders to something that could be taken care of in a different manner.”

Matthews said first responders would still focus first on human safety.

“This bill would require emergency responders to make a reasonable effort to locate service animals when they know a qualified service dog is missing in these situations, which means checking the surrounding area to the extent practical, while still prioritizing human safety,” Matthews said.

“In Ivy’s case, she was found in her owner’s garage and could have quickly been located with a reasonable effort by a first responder, which would have saved her owner more than a week of uncertainty.”

Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Ruidoso Downs, was one of the eight representatives to vote against the measure.

“As a former first responder, I’m just wondering why we have to have legislation for this because I can’t imagine,” he said, “... that a first responder would have a problem trying to find a service animal, anyways.”

The bill is about bringing awareness to people that “this should never have happened the way it happened,” Romero said.