H-1692.2  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2145

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Representatives Gombosky and Cox

Read first time 02/19/2001.  Referred to Committee on Transportation.

Requiring a driver's license for licensing a vehicle.

    AN ACT Relating to vehicle registration; amending RCW 46.12.020; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 46.12.020 and 1989 c 337 s 22 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) No vehicle license number plates or certificate of license registration, whether original issues or duplicates, may be issued or furnished by the department unless the applicant, at the same time, makes satisfactory application for a certificate of ownership or presents satisfactory evidence that such a certificate of ownership covering the vehicle has been previously issued.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no vehicle license number plates or certificate of license registration, whether original issues or duplicates, and no renewed vehicle license may be issued by the department unless the applicant possesses a valid driver's license.  In the case of joint application by more than one person, each applicant must possess a valid driver's license.

(3) Subsection (2) of this section applies only to applicants who are individual persons and does not apply to corporations, other businesses, or vehicles proportionally registered under chapter 46.87 RCW.

(4) Subsection (2) of this section does not apply to an applicant with respect to whom the department determines that:

(a) The applicant's driver's license is not currently suspended or revoked and the applicant is not in suspended or revoked status;

(b) The applicant has not been convicted of a violation of RCW 46.20.021, 46.20.342, or 46.20.345; and

(c) Circumstances not related to any violation of this title account for the applicant's current lack of a driver's license and the applicant's need to register a vehicle.  The applicant shall by affidavit indicate:

(i) The reason for the applicant's lack of a driver's license;

(ii) The need the applicant has for registering a vehicle; and

(iii) That the applicant will not knowingly permit a person without a driver's license to drive a vehicle registered in the applicant's name.

(5) A knowingly made material misstatement on an affidavit under subsection (4)(c) of this section is a misdemeanor.

(6) No denial under this section of issuance or of renewal of plates or certificates affects the right of a person to maintain, transfer, or acquire title in a vehicle.  Unless the parties to the contract agree otherwise, no such denial affects the rights or obligations of a party to a contract for the purchase, or for the financing of the purchase, of a motor vehicle.

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