Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Dog’s disposition not tied to breed

The vast majority of property insurance providers deny or significantly limit homeowner and renter insurance coverage for households with certain breeds of dogs in their homes. At a time of unprecedented housing challenges, restrictions in the cost and availability of property insurance based on pet ownership create an unnecessary and harmful barrier for thousands of Nevadans, forcing them to choose between keeping their homes or their loving pets — which is neither fair nor warranted.

This practice occurs all over the country, despite the fact that insurance claim data does not support the belief that certain breeds of dogs present a bigger risk than nonrestricted breeds.

Fortunately, a new law championed by state Sen. Melanie Scheible, D-Las Vegas, prohibits insurers from relying on the breed of a dog in determining coverage. Instead, insurance carriers will be required to consider each dog independently, based upon their temperament and behavior, regardless of breed. Past behavior is a much stronger indicator of current behavior than genetics, so the legislation reserves insurers’ latitude to cancel, refuse to issue or renew, or to increase premiums for households in which a resident dog of any breed has a history of aggression.

We are grateful to Scheible for her leadership on this groundbreaking legislation to end breed discrimination by insurance companies and we thank Gov. Steve Sisolak for quickly signing this bill into law to enhance protections for pets and people.

The writer is senior director of state legislation for the ASPCA, Western Division.