Title 40 — Public Buildings, Property, and WorksRelease 119-73
§3103 Admission of guide dogs or other service animals accompanying individuals with disabilities
Title 40 › Subtitle SUBTITLE II— - PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND WORKS › Part PART A— - GENERAL › Chapter CHAPTER 31— - GENERAL › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - OVERSIGHT AND REGULATION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS › § 3103
Summary
Federal buildings must admit guide dogs and other trained service animals when they accompany people with disabilities, under the same public-entry rules as anyone else. The animals must be leashed or harnessed and kept under the person's control, and agency heads may make needed rules for property they manage.
Full Legal Text
Title 40, §3103
Public Buildings, Property, and Works — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Guide dogs or other service animals accompanying individuals with disabilities and especially trained and educated for that purpose shall be admitted to any building or other property owned or controlled by the Federal Government on the same terms and conditions, and subject to the same regulations, as generally govern the admission of the public to the property. The animals are not permitted to run free or roam in a building or on the property and must be in guiding harness or on leash and under the control of the individual at all times while in a building or on the property.
(b)The head of each department or other agency of the Government may prescribe regulations the individual considers necessary in the public interest to carry out this section as it applies to any building or other property subject to the individual’s jurisdiction.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 3103(a)40:291 (1st sentence).Dec. 10, 1941, ch. 563, 55 Stat. 796. 3103(b)40:291 (last sentence). In subsection (a), the words “Seeing-eye dogs or other” are omitted as unnecessary. The words “or other service animals” are added, and the words “individuals with disabilities” are substituted for “blind masters”, because of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794) and Part 39 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal
Regulations
, which expanded the coverage of the source provision to all service animals and to all individuals with disabilities.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
40 U.S.C. § 3103
Title 40 — Public Buildings, Property, and Works
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73