Lawmakers take up bill requiring ‘dangerous dog’ owners to get liability insurance, other measures

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Legislation tightening the law regarding “dangerous dogs” passed through a House committee Thursday.

Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, is carrying HB 873, which passed 14-0 in the Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee. The companion bill is being carried by Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa.

An amendment was added to name the bill the “Pam Rock Act,” after a woman who passed away due to a dog attack in 2022.

“I felt compelled that we need to do something about dangerous dogs, he explained.

Payne said the legislation imposes requirements on dangerous dog owners for repeated attacks.

A “dangerous dog” means any dog that has either aggressively bitten, attacked, endangered or has inflicted severe injury on a human being, has more than once severely injured or killed a domestic animal while off the owner’s property, or has, when unprovoked, chased or approached a person upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public grounds in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack, according to the bill text.

The revisions are modeled after those successfully implemented in other states, the bill sponsor said.

Payne said he’s not changing the whole statute, but rather tightening some of the components.

Owners of a dangerous dog will be required to obtain liability insurance coverage of at least $100,000 to cover damages resulting from an attack by the dangerous dog causing bodily injury to a person.

According to the bill analysis, the bill requires the dog owner which has knowledge of a dog’s dangerous propensities to “securely confine the dog in a proper enclosure as if the dog had been determined to be dangerous.”

It also requires dogs to be held during the course of a dangerous dog investigation in certain instances, and requires dogs that have been declared dangerous to be spayed or neutered.

The bill requires the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to create a statewide “Dangerous Dog Registry” and requires animal control authorities to provide specified information for inclusion in the database.

It also increases the maximum fine for violations of the dangerous dog statute to $1,000.

Lastly, the bill repeals an exemption for hunting dogs and revises an exemption for police canines.

During the meeting, Paige Woody, the mother of a girl who was attacked by a dog in 2017 spoke in favor of the legislation. She said that they are a million dollars in debt due to the attack.

“This bill would give families like us the need to get therapy for PTSD, travel expenses, that $100,000 isn’t going to pay for the medical, but it’s going to pay to make their life easier to get the necessary things that they need, medical, mental, emotional and all that,” she said.

“This is a big step to getting families help, I appreciate you,” Woody said to lawmakers.

The bill has two more committee stops before it would reach the full House.