Scott: Support Arizona House Bill 2323 to bolster pet insurance

Arizona House Bill 2323 sponsored by Rep. John Kavanagh is making its way through the state legislature. It deserves to be signed into law.

This amendment to Arizona Revised Statutes Title 20 strips dog breed discriminatory profiling used by insurance companies to hit policyholders and policy seekers with higher rates and worse, result in homeowners or renters stripped of insurance in a tight, expensive housing market.

As American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce lobby against this responsible legislation, I ask readers to consider being the Phoenix couple who recently had their homeowner’s insurance canceled by Hartford Financial simply for adopting Echo, a sweet “pit bull,” into their family as a companion to their Australian Shepherd.

Adoption gives a homeless animal a new, loving lease on life and frees a kennel for another dog in need. Yet insurance companies are forcing families to make excruciating decisions while putting bounties on the heads of dogs they have profiled.

Pit bull is not a breed, and without DNA testing no dogs can be accurately identified.

Yet insurance companies are hiking rates and kicking people off policies through indiscriminate, unjustified targeting of family dogs.

Insurance companies and their political lobby would be better served advocating against those who are backyard breeding, mistreating animals, engaging in dog fighting, and selling puppy mill puppies commercially.

They could elevate their corporate citizenship profiles and strengthen communities by supporting spay and neuter programs and our county shelters, whose “occupants” hope today is the day some loving family brings them home, without facing prejudice.

Let’s get HB2323 passed! (Don Scott published letter to the editor, Scottsdale Daily Independent)