The Pennsylvania Senate recently passed Senate Bill 798 which seeks to make changes to the Commonwealth’s Dangerous Dog Law by changing definitions, increasing a fee, and eliminating the need to prove vicious propensity or history of attacks in determining that a dog is a dangerous dog under the law. AKC has concerns about this measure.
The bill has been assigned to the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. With the General Assembly preparing for summer recess, it is unlikely that this legislation will be acted upon soon – if at all – by the Committee for the remainder of this session. However, measures can move until the end of the session and AKC Government Relations will continue to monitor the bill carefully.
What the Bill Does:
SB 798 as passed by the Senate makes several changes, including:
- Amends Section 502-A of the Dog Law to revise the summary offense of harboring a dangerous dog. The bill removes the term “without provocation” and replaces it with the term “unprovoked.” It then defines unprovoked as any action by a dog that involves biting, attacking or forcibly coming into unwanted physical contact with a person who or domestic animal that is acting peaceably and lawfully.
- Clarifies who may file a complaint by replacing “anyone of behalf of” with “the person’s legal guardian or personal representative.”
- States that if an unprovoked dog acts with propensity to kill or inflict severe injury, it may be proven by a single incident. This repeals current law, which requires the need to prove that a dog has a vicious propensity or history of attacks in order to prove the offense of harboring a dangerous dog. As a result of this bill, owner could and most like would be cited for “harboring a dangerous dog” after that first attack.
- Increases the registration fee for a dangerous dog certificate from $500 to $1,000 per calendar year.
What You Can Do:
Comments regarding the measure may be made to members of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.
The committee contact information is as follows:
| Martin Causer, Chair | mcauser@pahousegop.com | ||
| Eddie Pashinski | reppashinski@pahouse.net | ||
| Christina Sappey | repsappey@pahouse.com | ||
| Ryan Warner | rwarner@pahousegop.com | ||
| Christopher Rabb | reprabb@pahouse.net | ||
| Rich Irvin | rirvin@pahousegop.com | ||
| Clint Owlett | cowlett@pahousegop.com | ||
| Liz Hanbidge | rephanbidge@pahouse.net | ||
| Stephanie Borowicz | sborowicz@pahousegop.com | ||
| Mark Gillen | mgillen@pahousegop.com | ||
| David Millard | dmillard@pahousegop.com | ||
| John Lawrence | jlawrence@pahousegop.com | ||
| Pamela Snyder | repsnyder@pahouse.net | ||
| Mark Keller | mkeller@pahousegop.com | ||
| Russ Diamond | rdiamond@pahousegop.com | ||
| Danilo Burgos | repburgos@pahouse.net | ||
| Bridget Kosierowski | repkosierowski@pahouse.net | ||
| David Zimmerman | dzimmerman@pahousegop.com | ||
| Steven Malagari | repmalagari@pahouse.net | ||
| Marci Mustello | mmustello@pahousegop.com | ||
| Pamela DeLissio | repdelissio@pahouse.net | ||
| Mindy Fee | mfee@pahousegop.com | ||
| Johnathan Hershey | jhershey@pahousegop.com | ||
| Marcia Hahn | mhahn@pahousegop.com | ||
| Gwendolyn Green | repgreen@pahouse.net | ||
| Kate Klunk | kklunk@pahousegop.com | ||
For more information, contact AKC Government Relations at 919-816-3720 or doglaw@akc.org.