By Howard Fischer

CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX - State lawmakers are looking at giving more safety protection to dogs than to children.

HB 2195 would make it illegal to transport a loose dog in the back of an open pickup truck. Instead, vehicle owners would have to have a camper shell, put the dog in a cage or at least tether it. Violators would be subject to a $50 fine.

"This is really a bill about public safety," said Rep. Linda Binder, R-Lake Havasu City.

Binder told colleagues about driving along Interstate 40 in Northern Arizona, fearful that a dog in a pickup in front of her would jump or be thrown from the vehicle.

The measure got an initial hearing last week in the House Transportation Committee. But Rep. Dean Cooley, R-Mesa, chairman of the panel, held off taking a vote on the bill to work out some technical details.

Cooley said the real problem with the bill may be one of politics and perception.

Since at least 1984, state lawmakers have proposed legislation to make it illegal to let youngsters ride in the back of open pickups. After all that time, there still is nothing illegal about it.

"If we were to pass a bill like this, we might get some bad press because we're not sensitive enough to children but we're sensitive enough to dogs to do this," Cooley said.

The ideal situation, he said, would be for legislators to approve not only this bill but also one that deals with kids, "so we get good press and not bad press"