ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The Maryland Senate has advanced a compromise bill on liability for dog bites.
The House has passed the bill, putting it one vote away from going to the governor’s office for his signature.
The bill would hold dog owners liable for biting “innocent victims” unless they could prove they had no way to know their dogs were dangerous. It also overturns a 2012 court decision designating pit bulls as “inherently dangerous.”
The House and Senate reached a general agreement a month ago, but both chambers had to approve the same specific bill to make it law.
Sen. Delores G. Kelley, D-Baltimore County, was alone in voting against it Wednesday. She said she was bitten by a dog as a child and thinks the bill puts a burden on victims.
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