Someone put a leash on Democratic Rep. Paul Rosenthal, who announced today a piece of legislation that would override HOA bans on certain breeds, like pit bulls and german shepherds. It doesn’t appear that Rosenthal has done a tremendous amount of research on this issue. See, one of the reasons that HOAs ban vicious breeds is because they attack each other people (first and foremost), but another reason is because of insurance policies.

Most homeowners’ insurance policies do not allow vicious breeds. Whether Rosenthal thinks they’re vicious or cuddly is entirely beyond the point here and, frankly, whether his constituent was turned away or not is besides the point. It’s about which policies exist at a national level. Here is what Colorado Politics reported an expert on the subject as saying:

“A homeowner association may be liable for permitting dangerous dogs to remain on the common areas and private streets owned and controlled by the association. The Board of Directors of these associations have a fiduciary duty to manage and operate the common areas, including making them safe and warning of any known dangerous conditions.”

If a homeowner cannot insure their property, that’s a problem. If an HOA cannot insure itself, that’s a problem, too. See, Rep. Rosenthal, it’s not just mean people who don’t like specific dog breeds. This is about real world problems like liability and insurance. But we wouldn’t expect a Democrat to consider such common  sense things. Woof.