Florida Bill Proposed to Repeal the State’s Prohibition on Breed Discriminatory Laws
Your Action Needed to Prevent Breed Discrimination
*UPDATE: This bill has progressed to the Senate's Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, and will be heard on Thursday, March 4, 2010. Florida residents: Contact your representatives today!
Contact Committee Members today!
To Florida Residents
Florida House Representative Perry Thurston has proposed House Bill 543 to repeal Florida’s current prohibition on breed discriminatory laws. Now, the Florida Senate has joined the House with a companion bill, Senate Bill 1276. The sponsor of the Senate bill is Senator Tony Hill. Florida is currently one of 12 states that prohibit local governments from enacting laws that regulate dog ownership based solely on dog breed.
The proposed House Bill has been referred to the House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources Policy, the House Committee on Military & Local Affairs Policy, and the House Council on General Government Policy. The proposed Senate Bill has been referred Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations.
Read the full text of the proposed House Bill here.
Read the full text of the proposed Senate Bill here.
*Best Friends Opposes This Legislation
Florida citizens: Contact Committee Members today!
Request More Effective Legislation
Best Friends opposes canine profiling as it does not reduce dog bite incidents nor effectively manage dangerous dogs. Rather than breed-discriminatory restrictions, legislators should mirror good generic dangerous dog/reckless owner laws that have been enacted in Illinois and Minnesota.
Some of these laws include regulations that:
- Protect innocent dogs and responsible owners.
- Encourage residents to spay/neuter their pets.
- Effectively identify and manage truly dangerous dogs.
- Restrict tethering.
- Enforce stricter consequences for dog fighting.
- Prevent reckless owners from having dogs.
1. Provide your name and address
Legislators want to know that you are one of the people they represent.
2. Ask for specific action
Ask members to oppose any ordinance that bans or regulates a specific breed of dog.
3. Give reasons and examples
Chose from the list below or share your own. Remember to be always be respectful and avoid being emotional. This is your chance to educate someone about truly effective ways to manage dangerous dogs.
- It is often difficult for even experts to determine the breed of a dog-particularly with mixed breed dogs. Click here to find the pit bulls on the web. Many dogs are misidentified and confiscated simply for their appearance.
- Breed discriminatory laws cause unintended hardship to responsible owners of friendly dogs that happen to fall within the regulated breed category.
- Breed-discriminatory laws compromise public safety by requiring officers to enforce regulation on dogs that may or may not be dangerous instead of investing resources into proven, effective tactics that make the community safer.
- A dog is an individual with its own personality. It should be judged on its temperament and not its appearance.
- Studies of pre and post breed ban dog-bite-rates in the United Kingdom and Spain concluded that their pit bull breed ban had no effect whatsoever on reducing dog bites.
Contact Committee Members Today!
When on Committee website, click on individual member names for email options.
Senate Committee on Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations
House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources Policy
House Committee on Military & Local Affairs Policy
House Council on General Government Policy Council
Email Senator Hill here.
Email Representative Thurston here.
Thank you for taking action for animals!
Additional Information and Resources
Join the Pit Bulls: Saving America’s Dog campaign to help put an end to breed discrimination.
Learn more about breed bans and dog bite facts at the National Canine Research Council.
Photograph by Katie Bray
Posted by Katie Bray