S-4755               _______________________________________________

                                         SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 6296

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Vognild, Patterson, Nelson, Warnke, Bender, Bauer, Murray, Hansen, Rasmussen, Smitherman, Niemi, Smith, von Reichbauer and Sutherland)

Read first time 1/31/90.

AN ACT Relating to the transfer of license plates from a destroyed vehicle; amending RCW 46.12.070 and 46.16.088; and providing an effective date.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 46.12.070, chapter 12, Laws of 1961 and RCW 46.12.070 are each amended to read as follows:

          Upon the destruction of any vehicle covered by certificates of license registration and ownership, the registered owner and the legal owner shall forthwith and within five days thereafter forward and surrender such certificate((, together with the vehicle license plates therefor if available,)) to the director, together with a statement of the reason for such surrender and the time and place of destruction. Failure to notify the director or the possession by any person of any such certificate for a vehicle so destroyed, after five days following its destruction, shall be prima facie evidence of violation of the provisions of this chapter and shall constitute a gross misdemeanor.  The registered owner shall also, within five days of the destruction of the vehicle, either send the vehicle license plates, if available, to the director or apply to the director for the transfer of the license plates to a vehicle obtained in replacement of the destroyed vehicle if the replacement vehicle is the same use class as the destroyed vehicle.  The applicant shall pay to the department any difference in the motor vehicle excise tax on the replacement vehicle and a transfer fee of two dollars.  Credit will not be given if the replacement vehicle fees are less than the destroyed vehicle fees or the replacement vehicle is currently registered.  In the case of personalized plates, the transfer fee as required in RCW 46.16.590 is five dollars.

          Any insurance company settling any insurance claim on any such vehicle as a total loss, less salvage, shall notify the director thereof within five days after the settlement of any such claim under any policy of insurance carried by it on a vehicle covered by certificates of license registration and ownership issued by this state.

        Sec. 2.  Section 17, chapter 380, Laws of 1985 as amended by section 9, chapter 18, Laws of 1986 and RCW 46.16.088 are each amended to read as follows:

          Except as provided in RCW 46.12.070 and 46.16.290, the transfer of license plates issued pursuant to this chapter between two or more vehicles is a traffic infraction subject to a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars.  Any law enforcement agency that determines that a license plate has been transferred between two or more vehicles shall confiscate the license plates and return them to the department for nullification along with full details of the reasons for confiscation.  Each vehicle identified in the transfer will be issued a new license plate upon application by the owner or owners thereof and payment of the full fees and taxes.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     This act shall take effect July 1, 1990.