Senate approves bill stripping away last anti-pit bull city ordinances

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The Senate has passed a bill that would strip away the last remaining municipal and public housing restrictions against specific dog breeds — which mostly target pit bulls — sending the issue to the House.

Senate legislation (SB 942) that would overturn Miami’s prohibition on pit bulls, got just one “nay” vote in committee hearings. On the floor, Democratic Sen. Geraldine Thompson was the only vote against it, saying she opposed it because it stripped away home rule.

But the bill sponsor, Miami Sen. Alexis Calatayud, representing the home of one of the last pit bull prohibitions, said the bill’s passage will mean dogs are judged by behavior, not someone’s determination of dog breed.

“Visual ID of breed by animal shelter professionals is unreliable at best and reckless at worst,” Calatayud said. “This bill helps low-income families keep the pets their kids grew up with. Regardless of income, or geography, you can keep your pets.”

Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo, also representing the Miami area, said the time is ripe for this to happen.

“This is long overdue,” Pizzo said, recalling that breed ban was determined by a seven-member panel in his county, that was subject to convenience and whim. “It was way too broad and way too much of a blanket restriction.”

Dogs are the only animal capable of loving their human protectors more than they love themselves, Pizzo argued. And none of them should be stereotypically cast aside.

“I love dogs,” he said.

Previous legislation banning breed-specific municipal ordinances had allowed local ordinances passed before Oct. 1, 1990 to stand, which allowed Miami to keep its ordinance in effect.

Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, a Miami Republican, has proposed an identical bill in the House. That bill (HB 941) has passed all its committee hearings and has been placed on the House’s second reading calendar.

In addition to Miami’s rule, the bill, if it becomes law, would nullify the city of Sunrise’s ordinance. Those rules, passed in 1989, define “pit bull dogs” as any dog that has characteristics as described by the American Kennel Club or United Kennel Club for American Staffordshire terriers or Staffordshire bull terriers. And those dogs, according to Sunrise’s rules, must be securely locked in a pen or muzzled.