Ohio House passes bill to eliminate state-wide Breed Specific Legislation

In 1987, Ohio passed what is still the only state-wide breed-specifc legislation in the country. It was a knee-jerk reaction to a dog bite incident involving a surgeon who was attacked by a 'pit bull' while leaving a prostitute's home. There was a dangerous dog bill on the table in the state legislature at the time that almost instantly got the state's current breed-specific law added to it the existing bill -- and with that, the state of Ohio became the only state in the US where 'pit bulls' are declared automatically vicious under state law.

Yesterday,the Ohio House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to overturn that law.

The bill, now HB 55, is a bill designed to increase penalties for animal cruelty in the state. However, an amendment was added to the bill by Rep. Matt Szollosi that would eliminate the breed specific language in the state law.

"I'm offering tihs amendment to ensure that we are not capturing, impounding, and terminating an animal simply based on its breed, he said. " It is unjust to punish owners by taking their pet even if they have a well-behaved, family-friendly dog."

No one on the floor spoke out against the amendment. No one.

The bill passed the house by a vote of 93-3.

The bill will now move on to the state Senate for approval. Unfortunately there is only one week left this year in the Senate's session, so they may not get the bill passed through before the end of this session. It will also be interesting whether this becomes a partisan issue -- the Ohio House of Representatives has a Deomcratic majority, the Senate majority is the Republicans (although the original sponsor of the repeal of BSL as it's own law, Rep. Barbara Sears, is a Republican).

This is a great first step for the residents and dogs of Ohio. A lot more work to do, but this is certainly an excellent step forward of beginning to listen to the knowledge and experts on canine behavior that note that BSL is neither warranted, nor effective, as legislation.

Comments

[J.M.]

Wasn`t it Barbara Spears HB79 amendments that were added to HB55?
That`s what it says over here or were there 2 Bills with amendments?

http://www.animallawcoalition.com/breed-bans/article/733

[Brent]

Rep Sears initially proposed HB79.

HB55 was a different bill, but the language from HB79 was added to it as an amendment (and the original HB79 was dropped). So now, the language from the 2 bills is now essentially rolled up into the same bill.

[J.M.]

Ok I see.
Thanks
Good news for sure.

[Social Mange]

My thanks and deep respect go to the state representatives of Ohio for this intelligent and informed legislative decision.

[buckeyegamedogs]

sweet i supported and voted

[Mbstancliff]

Do you have any links (the one in the story doesn't go anywhere) to the story detailing the dog bite involving the surgeon leaving the prostitute's house? I would love to have that for my collection :)

[Brent]

Here's an article that recaps it: http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2009/12/06/Ohio-s-pit-bull-law-sticks-despite-tries-for-change.html