DENVER -- A Denver city council member is proposing changes to the city's pit bull breed ban.

District eight councilwoman Carla Madison said her plan is not to repeal the pit bull ban, but to modify it to provide loopholes for responsible pit bull owners.

"What we're doing is trying to add another piece to [the ban] that would allow responsible pit bull ownership," she said.

Mayor John Hickenlooper's office said he would consider the proposal once it is complete.

Madison said the ordinance is still in its infancy, but that it would require potential pit bull owners to "jump through some hoops" to get their dogs certified to legally reside in Denver.

Among other things, the ordinance would require pit bull owners to pay a $50 fee for a pit bull permit, buy a homeowners or renters insurance policy worth at least $1 million. A homeowner's residence would be subject to inspection by Animal Control. Dogs would have to undergo temperament testing at least once a year and take obedience classes. No more than two pit bulls would be allowed to live in one house at a time.

Madison said she is also considering adding a provision prohibiting anyone under 21 from owning a pit bull. Anyone under 21 walking a dog would have to muzzle the dog.

District six city councilman Charlie Brown said the ordinance is unrealistic.

"I'm adamantly opposed to that and I hope she doesn't bring it forward," he said. Brown said most major insurance companies like State Farm, Allstate and Farmer’s Insurance simply do not provide policies to people who own pit bulls.

Brown also said the ordinance could be costly and the $50 fee might not offset all of the costs associated with it.

But Madison believes the fee would help pay for the program and could help reduce Denver's $120 million budget shortfall.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health, roughly 2,000 pit bulls were euthanized last year. Madison said her ordinance could cut down on that number.

Heidi Tufto, a pit bull owner who was displaced from Denver when the ban went into effect, and then moved from Aurora after a similar ban, said the changes would be a step in the right direction, but that they could end up punishing the wrong people.

"Only the responsible owners are going to comply with that," said Tufto. "You're just putting additional burdens on the people who are responsible."