BILL REQ. #:  H-0745.2 

Read first time 01/21/09.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to honoring recipients of the purple heart through exemptions from vehicle licensing fees; amending RCW 46.16.237, 46.16.270, and 46.16.305; and creating a new section.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 46.16.237 and 2005 c 314 s 301 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) All vehicle license number plates issued after January 1, 1968, or such earlier date as the director may prescribe with respect to plates issued in any county, shall be treated with fully reflectorized materials designed to increase the visibility and legibility of such plates at night.
     (2) In addition to all other fees prescribed by law, there shall be paid and collected for each vehicle license number plate treated with such materials, the sum of two dollars and for each set of two plates, the sum of four dollars. However, one plate is available only to those vehicles that by law require only one plate. Such fees shall be deposited in the motor vehicle fund. Purple heart special license plates authorized by RCW 46.16.305 are exempt from this fee.

Sec. 2   RCW 46.16.270 and 2005 c 314 s 302 are each amended to read as follows:
     The total replacement plate fee shall be deposited in the motor vehicle fund.
     Upon the loss, defacement, or destruction of one or both of the vehicle license number plates issued for any vehicle where more than one plate was originally issued or where one or both have become so illegible or in such a condition as to be difficult to distinguish, or upon the owner's option, the owner of the vehicle shall make application for new vehicle license number plates upon a form furnished by the director. The application shall be filed with the director or the director's authorized agent, accompanied by the certificate of license registration of the vehicle and a fee in the amount of ten dollars per plate, whereupon the director, or the director's authorized agent, shall issue new vehicle license number plates to the applicant. It shall be accompanied by a fee of two dollars for a new motorcycle license number plate. In the event the director has issued license period tabs or a windshield emblem instead of vehicle license number plates, and upon the loss, defacement, or destruction of the tabs or windshield emblem, application shall be made on a form provided by the director and in the same manner as above described, and shall be accompanied by a fee of one dollar for each pair of tabs or for each windshield emblem, whereupon the director shall issue to the applicant a duplicate pair of tabs, year tabs, and when necessary month tabs or a windshield emblem to replace those lost, defaced, or destroyed. For vehicles owned, rented, or leased by the state of Washington or by any county, city, town, school district, or other political subdivision of the state of Washington or United States government, or owned or leased by the governing body of an Indian tribe as defined in RCW 46.16.020, a fee shall be charged for replacement of a vehicle license number plate only to the extent required by the provisions of RCW 46.16.020, 46.16.237, and 46.01.140. For vehicles owned, rented, or leased by foreign countries or international bodies to which the United States government is a signatory by treaty, the payment of any fee for the replacement of a vehicle license number plate shall not be required. The reissuance of purple heart special license plates authorized by RCW 46.16.305 are exempt from any fees required under this section.

Sec. 3   RCW 46.16.305 and 2008 c 72 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department shall continue to issue the categories of special plates issued by the department under the sections repealed under section 12 (1) through (7), chapter 250, Laws of 1990. Special license plates issued under those repealed sections before January 1, 1991, are valid to the extent and under the conditions provided in those repealed sections. The following conditions, limitations, or requirements apply to certain special license plates issued after January 1, 1991:
     (1) A horseless carriage plate and a plate or plates issued for collectors' vehicles more than thirty years old, upon payment of the initial fees required by law and the additional special license plate fee established by the department, are valid for the life of the vehicle for which application is approved by the department. When a single plate is issued, it shall be displayed on the rear of the vehicle.
     (2) The department may issue special license plates denoting amateur radio operator status only to persons having a valid official radio operator license issued by the federal communications commission.
     (3) The department shall issue one set of special license plates to each resident of this state who has been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for use on a passenger vehicle registered to that person. The department shall issue the plate without the payment of licensing fees and motor vehicle excise tax.
     (4) The department may issue for use on only one motor vehicle owned by the qualified applicant special license plates denoting that the recipient of the plate is a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, to persons meeting all of the following criteria:
     (a) Is a resident of this state;
     (b) Was a member of the United States Armed Forces on December 7, 1941;
     (c) Was on station on December 7, 1941, during the hours of 7:55 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Hawaii time at Pearl Harbor, the island of Oahu, or offshore at a distance not to exceed three miles;
     (d) Received an honorable discharge from the United States Armed Forces; and
     (e) Is certified by a Washington state chapter of the Pearl Harbor survivors association as satisfying the qualifications in (c) of this subsection.
     The department may issue such plates to the surviving spouse of any deceased Pearl Harbor survivor who met the requirements of this subsection. If the surviving spouse remarries, he or she shall return the special plates to the department within fifteen days and apply for regular plates. The surviving spouse must be a resident of this state.
     The department shall issue these plates upon payment by the applicant of all other license fees, but the department may not set or charge an additional fee for these special license plates.
     (5) Effective with registrations that are due or become due on or after January 1, 2009, the department may issue for use on motor vehicles owned by the qualified applicant special license plates denoting that the recipient of the plate is a parent of a member of the United States armed forces who died while in service to his or her country or as a result of such service to persons meeting all of the following criteria:
     (a) Is a resident of this state; and
     (b) Is a mother or father of a member of the United States armed forces who died while in service to his or her country or who died as a result of such service, as certified by the Washington state department of veterans affairs.
     The department shall issue these plates upon payment by the applicant of all other license fees, but the department may not set or charge an additional fee for these special plates.
     (6) The department may issue a purple heart special license plate that may be used in lieu of regular or personalized license plates for vehicles required to display one or two vehicle license plates, excluding vehicles registered under chapter 46.87 RCW. The department may issue the special license plate, denoting that the applicant of the plate has been awarded the purple heart medal, if the applicant:
     (a) Is a Washington resident;
     (b) Was issued the purple heart medal by any branch of the United States armed forces, including the merchant marines and the women's air forces service pilots;
     (c) Was wounded during one of this nation's wars or conflicts identified in RCW 41.04.005; and
     (d) Owns, co-owns, leases, or coleases the vehicle.
     The department shall issue the plates without the payment of licensing fees and the motor vehicle excise tax.
     (7) The department shall replace, free of charge, special license plates issued under subsections (3) through (5) of this section if they are lost, stolen, damaged, defaced, or destroyed. Such plates shall remain with the persons upon transfer or other disposition of the vehicle for which they were initially issued, and may be used on another vehicle registered to the recipient in accordance with the provisions of RCW 46.16.316(1).

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act applies to vehicle registrations that are due or become due on or after January 1, 2010.