State Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, filed SB 932 – a comprehensive 29-page bill related to animal welfare – on Friday.
If passed, the bill would make it against the law for a dog “to extend its head or any other body part outside a motor vehicle window while the person is operating the motor vehicle on a public roadway.”
The bill would also penalize drivers traveling with dogs “on the running board, fender, hood, or roof of a motor vehicle, in the trunk of a motor vehicle, or in an enclosed motor vehicle space intended for cargo.”
The bill would also ban drivers from holding a dog in their lap or keeping the animal in a trunk or truck bed. Instead, SB 932 would require the dog to be kept in an appropriately-sized crate, a harness or pet seat belt, or in the lap of a person who isn’t driving.
Anyone who violates those provisions would be committing a “noncriminal traffic infraction,” which is punishable as a moving violation.
