BILL REQ. #:  H-4456.1 

Read first time 01/27/2004.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to motor vehicle registration and titles; amending RCW 46.12.050 and 46.12.005; adding a new section to chapter 46.12 RCW; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 46.12 RCW to read as follows:
     For consumer protection purposes, vehicle ownership documents should disclose whether motor vehicles have been previously used under circumstances that allowed the vehicle to be operated by multiple drivers or damaged in a collision.

Sec. 2   RCW 46.12.050 and 1996 c 26 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department, if satisfied from the statements upon the application that the applicant is the legal owner of the vehicle or otherwise entitled to have a certificate of ownership thereof in the applicant's name, shall issue an appropriate electronic record of ownership or a written certificate of ownership, over the director's signature, authenticated by seal, and if required, a new written certificate of license registration if certificate of license registration is required.
     The certificates of ownership and the certificates of license registration shall contain upon the face thereof, the date of application, the registration number assigned to the registered owner and to the vehicle, the name and address of the registered owner and legal owner, the vehicle identification number, and such other description of the vehicle and facts as the department shall require((, and)). In addition ((thereto)), facts relating to prior condition, ownership, or use must be clearly shown on the certificates if the vehicle described in such certificates ((shall have)) has ever been:
     (1) Licensed ((and)) or operated as any of the following: (a) An exempt vehicle ((or)) under RCW 46.16.020; (b) a for hire vehicle as defined in RCW 46.72.010 or a taxicab((,)); (c) a rental vehicle; (d) a leased vehicle; (e) a fleet vehicle; (f) a dealership demonstration vehicle; (g) a service loaner vehicle; or (h) a repossessed vehicle; or
     (2) If it has been rebuilt after becoming a salvage vehicle((, such fact shall be clearly shown thereon)) or has been repaired after being damaged in a collision.
     All certificates of ownership of motor vehicles issued after April 30, 1990, shall reflect the odometer reading as provided by the odometer disclosure statement submitted with the title application involving a transfer of ownership.
     A blank space shall be provided on the face of the certificate of license registration for the signature of the registered owner.
     Upon issuance of the certificate of license registration and certificate of ownership and upon any reissue thereof, the department shall deliver the certificate of license registration to the registered owner and the certificate of ownership to the legal owner, or both to the person who is both the registered owner and legal owner.

Sec. 3   RCW 46.12.005 and 2002 c 245 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions set forth in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) The words "delivery," "notice," "send," and "security interest" have the same meaning as these terms are defined in RCW 62A.1-201; the word "secured party" has the same meaning as this term is defined in RCW 62A.9A-102.
     (2) "Dealership demonstration vehicle" means a vehicle offered by a motor vehicle dealer to prospective customers to operate for demonstration purposes or vehicles provided by motor vehicle dealers to their sales staff, without charge, for any personal or business reason other than, or in addition to, the mere display of the vehicles to prospective purchasers.
     (3) "Fleet vehicle" means a vehicle that has been operated in mass by a corporation or institution.
     (4) "Leased vehicle" means a vehicle owned by a person, firm, or corporation that, under the terms of a lease, grants the legal right of possession, control of, and responsibility for the operation of the vehicle to another person, firm, or corporation.
     (5) "Rental vehicle" means a vehicle that is owned and used solely by a vehicle rental business for rental to others, without a driver provided by the vehicle rental business, for periods of not more than thirty consecutive days.
     (6) "Repossessed vehicle" means a vehicle in which the interest of the owner was lawfully terminated or sold under the terms of a security agreement.
     (7) "Salvage vehicle" means a vehicle whose certificate of ownership has been surrendered to the department under RCW 46.12.070 due to the vehicle's destruction or declaration as a total loss or for which there is documentation indicating that the vehicle has been declared salvage or has been damaged to the extent that the owner, an insurer, or other person acting on behalf of the owner, has determined that the cost of parts and labor plus the salvage value has made it uneconomical to repair the vehicle. The term does not include a motor vehicle having a model year designation of a calendar year that is at least six years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, unless, after June 13, 2002, and immediately before the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, the vehicle had a retail fair market value of at least the then market value threshold amount and has a model year designation of a calendar year not more than twenty years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged. "Market value threshold amount" means six thousand five hundred dollars or such greater amount as is then in effect by rule of the department in accordance with this section. If, for any year beginning with 2002, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, or its successor, for the West Region, in the expenditure category "used cars and trucks," shows an increase in the annual average for that year compared to that of the year immediately prior, the department shall, by rule, increase the then market value threshold amount by the same percentage as the percentage increase of the annual average, with the increase of the market value threshold amount to be effective on July 1st of the year immediately after the year with the increase of the annual average. However, the market value threshold amount may not be increased if the amount of the increase would be less than fifty dollars, and each increase of the market value threshold amount will be rounded to the nearest ten dollars. If an increase in the market value threshold amount is not made because the increase would be less than fifty dollars, the unmade increase will be carried forward and added to later year calculations of increase until the unmade increase is included in an increase made to the market value threshold amount.
     (8) "Service loaner vehicle" means a vehicle rented or loaned to customers by an automotive repair business while the customer's vehicle is under repair.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act takes effect January 1, 2005.