Tampa & Orlando bars challenge Florida Department of Health over its order against dog-friendly bars

Share
St. Pete Pride 2017 LGBTQ+ pride dog
Pride dog. By Seán Kinane (2017).

Bars in Tampa and Orlando are challenging the Florida Department of Health over decisions to block dogs from being in the establishments.

Pups Pub Tampa and Pups Pub Orlando filed a case last week at the state Division of Administrative Hearings after health officials issued orders to prevent dogs in what the case describes as “dog-friendly bars.”

In part, attorneys for the bars wrote that the department reversed course after earlier allowing dogs.

Also, they said the bars do not serve food and are designed to keep separation between dogs and where drinks are prepared.

“Despite its prior enunciation of its interpretation of its rules that dogs were authorized inside bar establishments as long as there was some minimum separation between the dogs and the area were the beverages were prepared, the department changed its interpretation and began prohibiting dogs inside the bar establishment as a whole,” the challenge said.

The challenge also said the department’s new interpretation is invalid as it “constitutes an agency statement of general applicability which has not been adopted as a rule and is applicable to dog-friendly bars statewide.”

In documents attached to the case, the Department of Health pointed to a state rule that bars dogs inside food-service establishments, which are defined as including bars.

©2023 The News Service of Florida

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

Surly Voices
Player position: