Meeting Public Comments

Julie Wall [Public Safety Advocate]

I OPPOSE HSB99 State Farm, the nation's largest home insurer, does not have dog breed restrictions and has competitive rates. Pit bulls only make 7% of the dog population, you don't need every insurance company to offer to cover them. State Farm Renters Insurance for the price of a couple of lattes 7.0012.00 a month: https://www.statefarm.com/insurance/homeandproperty/rentersThis is a made up problem by the humane groups (HSUS, ASPCA) to fundraise and collect money. Pit bull owners can easily get coverage for their dogs.Please forward me the actual list of names of pit bull owners that could not get coverage at all. Please give me the number of people who could not get coverage because of a breed. If you did get numbers, did you ask the dog owners if they were denied because of a previous dog bite claim? Most insurance companies will not cover a dog that had an insurance claim against it for a biting incident. Yes, they might be denied by another smaller insurance company who can't afford the risk but these pit bull owners can get insurance by State Farm. This bill should not be considered without those facts.By the way, there is no law that insurance companies have to cover dog bites under homeowners or renters insurance. It's actually been just a perk for customers! What Is a Canine Liability Exclusion? A canine liability exclusion is a type of clause that is often included in homeowner insurance contracts. Its purpose is to release the insurer from any liability relating to injuries or property damage caused by dogs. Why bother with dog coverage at all? https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/canineliabilityexclusion.aspBy the way, I use State Farm for all my insurance needs. I have 2 rental properties. For my rental properties, State Farm has the lowest rates by far. Some of the insurance companies for covering rental properties wanted to charge me 3 times more than State Farm. Overall, all insurance companies think it's a big risk to own rental property. So as a housing provider, I pay a lot compared to my private homeowners insurance. BFAS, HSUS and ASPCA are unfairly blaming insurance companies for animals being surrendered to shelters. I forwarded you a study from 2021, The Number 1 reason for returning dogs to the shelter is behavior. Study Published: 13 April 2021, Characterizing unsuccessful animal adoptions: age and breed predict the likelihood of return, reasons for return and postreturn outcomes https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598021876492 December 6, 2019 Pit Bulls Account for 66% of Total Fatal Dog Attacks, Revealed in a New Study by https://vhomeinsurance.com/b/66fatalattacksdogsarepitbullsandcanimpacthomeinsurancecostscm708 VERY TELLING: An estimated 300 U.S. military bases ban pit bulls. There are 1,200 U.S. cities and 50 countries which enact breed specific ordinances because pit bull typedogs present an unreasonable risk to health and public safety. Most Rental & Housing Properties do not allow pit bulls. https://blog.dogsbite.org/2021/02/estimatedusbreedspecificlaws2021.html 18 Medical peerreviewed dog bite studies that prove pit bull typedogs are dangerous as pets. YES, all dogs can bite. The issue with pit bulls is the degree of damage they inflict, and their attacks being more likely to result in fatality. Level 1 trauma center dog bite studies from all geographical regions in the U.S. are reporting a higher prevalence of pit bull type dogs injuries than all other breeds of dogs. In many cases, the studies (2011 to present) also report that pit bull injuries have a higher severity of injury and require a greater number of operative interventions. https://www.dogsbite.org/dogbitestatisticsstudieslevel1traumatable2011present.php