Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Wednesday that sets harsher penalties for dangerous dogs with tougher rules and penalties for their owners.
Under HB 593, the following requirements for owners of dangerous dogs are:
- Owners must confine the dog in a proper enclosure
- Dogs declared dangerous are microchipped and spayed or neutered. An owner who attempts to remove the microchip can be charged with a third-degree felony.
- Owners must obtain at least $100,000 in liability insurance
The bill also permits animal control to hold a dog under investigation for possibly being dangerous. In addition, it gives animal control the authority to "humanely euthanize" a dog found to be.
A dog is deemed dangerous if it has killed a person or bitten and left a mark of five or higher on the Dunbar bite scale, which evaluates the severity of wounds after a dog attack.
The bill's penalties include:
Owners can be charged with a second-degree felony if the dangerous dog causes injury or death to a person. The previous penalty was a third-degree felony.
They can also be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor for a dog not declared dangerous, but shown "dangerous propensities," of which the owner is aware. The previous penalty was a second-degree misdemeanor.
The legislation was cited as the “Pam Rock Act," named after a postal worker who was mauled to death by five dogs as she was delivering Amazon packages in Putnam County in 2022. It also honors Michael Millet, an 8-year-old boy who was killed by two unrestrained dogs while riding his bike in a neighborhood in Volusia County
Rep. Judson Sapp (R-Green Gove Springs) sponsored the House bill. Sen. Jay Collins (R-Tampa) carried the Senate version.
The law will go into effect on July 1.
