HB 2617 -
By Senator Haugen
ADOPTED AS AMENDED 03/01/2006
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"Sec. 1 RCW 46.16.010 and 2005 c 350 s 1, 2005 c 323 s 2, and
2005 c 213 s 6 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) It is unlawful for a person to operate any vehicle over and
along a public highway of this state without first having obtained and
having in full force and effect a current and proper vehicle license
and display vehicle license number plates therefor as by this chapter
provided.
(2) Failure to make initial registration before operation on the
highways of this state is a traffic infraction, and any person
committing this infraction shall pay a penalty of five hundred twenty-nine dollars, no part of which may be suspended or deferred.
(3) Failure to renew an expired registration before operation on
the highways of this state is a traffic infraction.
(4) The licensing of a vehicle in another state by a resident of
this state, as defined in RCW 46.16.028, evading the payment of any tax
or license fee imposed in connection with registration, is a gross
misdemeanor punishable as follows:
(a) For a first offense, up to one year in the county jail and
payment of a fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars plus twice the
amount of delinquent taxes and fees, no part of which may be suspended
or deferred;
(b) For a second or subsequent offense, up to one year in the
county jail and payment of a fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars
plus four times the amount of delinquent taxes and fees, no part of
which may be suspended or deferred;
(c) For fines levied under (b) of this subsection, an amount equal
to the avoided taxes and fees owed will be deposited in the vehicle
licensing fraud account created in the state treasury;
(d) The avoided taxes and fees shall be deposited and distributed
in the same manner as if the taxes and fees were properly paid in a
timely fashion.
(5) These provisions shall not apply to the following vehicles:
(a) Motorized foot scooters;
(b) Electric-assisted bicycles;
(c) Off-road vehicles operating on nonhighway roads under RCW
46.09.115;
(d) Farm vehicles if operated within a radius of fifteen miles of
the farm where principally used or garaged, farm tractors and farm
implements including trailers designed as cook or bunk houses used
exclusively for animal herding temporarily operating or drawn upon the
public highways, and trailers used exclusively to transport farm
implements from one farm to another during the daylight hours or at
night when such equipment has lights that comply with the law;
(e) Spray or fertilizer applicator rigs designed and used
exclusively for spraying or fertilization in the conduct of
agricultural operations and not primarily for the purpose of
transportation, and nurse rigs or equipment auxiliary to the use of and
designed or modified for the fueling, repairing, or loading of spray
and fertilizer applicator rigs and not used, designed, or modified
primarily for the purpose of transportation;
(f) Fork lifts operated during daylight hours on public highways
adjacent to and within five hundred feet of the warehouses which they
serve: PROVIDED FURTHER, That these provisions shall not apply to
vehicles used by the state parks and recreation commission exclusively
for park maintenance and operations upon public highways within state
parks;
(g) "Trams" used for transporting persons to and from facilities
related to the horse racing industry as regulated in chapter 67.16 RCW,
as long as the public right-of-way routes over which the trams operate
are not more than one mile from end to end, the public rights-of-way
over which the tram operates have an average daily traffic of not more
than 15,000 vehicles per day, and the activity is in conformity with
federal law. The operator must be a licensed driver and at least
eighteen years old. For the purposes of this section, "tram" also
means a vehicle, or combination of vehicles linked together with a
single mode of propulsion, used to transport persons from one location
to another;
(h) "Special highway construction equipment" defined as follows:
Any vehicle which is designed and used primarily for grading of
highways, paving of highways, earth moving, and other construction work
on highways and which is not designed or used primarily for the
transportation of persons or property on a public highway and which is
only incidentally operated or moved over the highway. It includes, but
is not limited to, road construction and maintenance machinery so
designed and used such as portable air compressors, air drills, asphalt
spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, track laying tractors,
ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, paving
mixers, road rollers, scarifiers, earth moving scrapers and carryalls,
lighting plants, welders, pumps, power shovels and draglines, self-propelled and tractor-drawn earth moving equipment and machinery,
including dump trucks and tractor-dump trailer combinations which
either (i) are in excess of the legal width, or (ii) which, because of
their length, height, or unladen weight, may not be moved on a public
highway without the permit specified in RCW 46.44.090 and which are not
operated laden except within the boundaries of the project limits as
defined by the contract, and other similar types of construction
equipment, or (iii) which are driven or moved upon a public highway
only for the purpose of crossing such highway from one property to
another, provided such movement does not exceed five hundred feet and
the vehicle is equipped with wheels or pads which will not damage the
roadway surface.
Exclusions:
"Special highway construction equipment" does not include any of
the following:
Dump trucks originally designed to comply with the legal size and
weight provisions of this code notwithstanding any subsequent
modification which would require a permit, as specified in RCW
46.44.090, to operate such vehicles on a public highway, including
trailers, truck-mounted transit mixers, cranes and shovels, or other
vehicles designed for the transportation of persons or property to
which machinery has been attached.
(6) The following vehicles, whether operated solo or in
combination, are exempt from license registration and displaying
license plates as required by this chapter:
(a) A converter gear used to convert a semitrailer into a trailer
or a two-axle truck or tractor into a three or more axle truck or
tractor or used in any other manner to increase the number of axles of
a vehicle. Converter gear includes an auxiliary axle, booster axle,
dolly, and jeep axle.
(b) A tow dolly that is used for towing a motor vehicle behind
another motor vehicle. The front or rear wheels of the towed vehicle
are secured to and rest on the tow dolly that is attached to the towing
vehicle by a tow bar.
(c) An off-road vehicle operated on a street, road, or highway as
authorized under RCW 46.09.180.
(7)(a) A motor vehicle subject to initial or renewal registration
under this section shall not be registered to a natural person unless
the person at time of application:
(i) Presents an unexpired Washington state driver's license; or
(ii) Certifies that he or she is:
(A) A Washington resident who does not operate a motor vehicle on
public roads; or
(B) Exempt from the requirement to obtain a Washington state
driver's license under RCW 46.20.025.
(b) For shared or joint ownership, the department will set up
procedures to verify that all owners meet the requirements of this
subsection.
(c) A person falsifying residency is guilty of a gross misdemeanor
punishable only by a fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars.
(d) The department may adopt rules necessary to implement this
subsection, including rules under which a natural person applying for
registration may be exempt from the requirements of this subsection
where the person provides evidence satisfactory to the department that
he or she has a valid and compelling reason for not being able to meet
the requirements of this subsection.
Sec. 2 RCW 46.09.115 and 2005 c 213 s 4 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is lawful to
operate an off-road vehicle upon:
(a) A nonhighway road and in parking areas serving designated off-road vehicle areas if the state, federal, local, or private authority
responsible for the management of the nonhighway road authorizes the
use of off-road vehicles; and
(b) A street, road, or highway as authorized under RCW 46.09.180.
(2) Operations of an off-road vehicle on a nonhighway road, or on
a street, road, or highway as authorized under RCW 46.09.180, under
this section is exempt from licensing requirements of RCW 46.16.010 and
vehicle lighting and equipment requirements of chapter 46.37 RCW.
(3) It is unlawful to operate an off-road vehicle upon a private
nonhighway road if the road owner has not authorized the use of off-road vehicles.
(4) Nothing in this section authorizes trespass on private
property.
(5) The provisions of RCW 4.24.210(5) shall apply to public
landowners who allow members of the public to use public facilities
accessed by a highway, street, or nonhighway road for recreational off-road vehicle use.
Sec. 3 RCW 46.09.120 and 2005 c 213 s 3 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, it is a
traffic infraction for any person to operate any nonhighway vehicle:
(a) In such a manner as to endanger the property of another;
(b) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle without a lighted headlight and taillight between the hours of
dusk and dawn, or when otherwise required for the safety of others
regardless of ownership;
(c) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle without an adequate braking device or when otherwise required
for the safety of others regardless of ownership;
(d) Without a spark arrester approved by the department of natural
resources;
(e) Without an adequate, and operating, muffling device which
effectively limits vehicle noise to no more than eighty-six decibels on
the "A" scale at fifty feet as measured by the Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE) test procedure J 331a, except that a maximum noise
level of one hundred and five decibels on the "A" scale at a distance
of twenty inches from the exhaust outlet shall be an acceptable
substitute in lieu of the Society of Automotive Engineers test
procedure J 331a when measured:
(i) At a forty-five degree angle at a distance of twenty inches
from the exhaust outlet;
(ii) With the vehicle stationary and the engine running at a steady
speed equal to one-half of the manufacturer's maximum allowable ("red
line") engine speed or where the manufacturer's maximum allowable
engine speed is not known the test speed in revolutions per minute
calculated as sixty percent of the speed at which maximum horsepower is
developed; and
(iii) With the microphone placed ten inches from the side of the
vehicle, one-half way between the lowest part of the vehicle body and
the ground plane, and in the same lateral plane as the rearmost exhaust
outlet where the outlet of the exhaust pipe is under the vehicle;
(f) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle upon the shoulder or inside bank or slope of any nonhighway
road or highway, or upon the median of any divided highway;
(g) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle in any area or in such a manner so as to unreasonably expose
the underlying soil, or to create an erosion condition, or to injure,
damage, or destroy trees, growing crops, or other vegetation;
(h) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle or on any nonhighway road or trail, when these are restricted
to pedestrian or animal travel;
(i) On any public lands in violation of rules and regulations of
the agency administering such lands; and
(j) On a private nonhighway road in violation of RCW 46.09.115(3).
(2) It is a misdemeanor for any person to operate any nonhighway
vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a
controlled substance.
(3)(a) Except for an off-road vehicle equipped with seat belts and
roll bars or an enclosed passenger compartment, it is a traffic
infraction for any person to operate or ride an off-road vehicle on a
nonhighway road without wearing upon his or her head a motorcycle
helmet fastened securely while in motion. For purposes of this
section, "motorcycle helmet" has the same meaning as provided in RCW
46.37.530.
(b) Subsection (3)(a) of this section does not apply to an off-road
vehicle operator operating on his or her own land.
(c) Subsection (3)(a) of this section does not apply to an off-road
vehicle operator operating on agricultural lands owned or leased by the
off-road vehicle operator or the operator's employer.
(4) It is not a traffic infraction to operate an off-road vehicle
on a street, road, or highway as authorized under RCW 46.09.180.
Sec. 4 RCW 46.09.180 and 1977 ex.s. c 220 s 15 are each amended
to read as follows:
Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this chapter, any city,
county, or other political subdivision of this state, or any state
agency, may regulate the operation of nonhighway vehicles on public
lands, waters, and other properties under its jurisdiction, and on
streets, roads, or highways within its boundaries by adopting
regulations or ordinances of its governing body, provided such
regulations are not less stringent than the provisions of this chapter.
However, the legislative body of a city with a population of less than
three thousand persons may, by ordinance, designate a street or highway
within its boundaries to be suitable for use by off-road vehicles. The
legislative body of a county may, by ordinance, designate a road or
highway within its boundaries to be suitable for use by off-road
vehicles if the road or highway is a direct connection between a city
with a population of less than three thousand persons and an off-road
vehicle recreation facility.
Sec. 5 RCW 46.37.010 and 2005 c 213 s 7 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) It is a traffic infraction for any person to drive or move or
for the owner to cause or knowingly permit to be driven or moved on any
highway any vehicle or combination of vehicles which is in such unsafe
condition as to endanger any person, or which does not contain those
parts or is not at all times equipped with such lamps and other
equipment in proper condition and adjustment as required in this
chapter or in regulations issued by the chief of the Washington state
patrol, or which is equipped in any manner in violation of this chapter
or the state patrol's regulations, or for any person to do any act
forbidden or fail to perform any act required under this chapter or the
state patrol's regulations.
(2) Nothing contained in this chapter or the state patrol's
regulations shall be construed to prohibit the use of additional parts
and accessories on any vehicle not inconsistent with the provisions of
this chapter or the state patrol's regulations.
(3) The provisions of the chapter and the state patrol's
regulations with respect to equipment on vehicles shall not apply to
implements of husbandry, road machinery, road rollers, or farm tractors
except as herein made applicable.
(4) No owner or operator of a farm tractor, self-propelled unit of
farm equipment, or implement of husbandry shall be guilty of a crime or
subject to penalty for violation of RCW 46.37.160 as now or hereafter
amended unless such violation occurs on a public highway.
(5) It is a traffic infraction for any person to sell or offer for
sale vehicle equipment which is required to be approved by the state
patrol as prescribed in RCW 46.37.005 unless it has been approved by
the state patrol.
(6) The provisions of this chapter with respect to equipment
required on vehicles shall not apply to motorcycles or motor-driven
cycles except as herein made applicable.
(7) This chapter does not apply to off-road vehicles used on
nonhighway roads or used on streets, roads, or highways as authorized
under RCW 46.09.180.
(8) This chapter does not apply to vehicles used by the state parks
and recreation commission exclusively for park maintenance and
operations upon public highways within state parks.
(9) Notices of traffic infraction issued to commercial drivers
under the provisions of this chapter with respect to equipment required
on commercial motor vehicles shall not be considered for driver
improvement purposes under chapter 46.20 RCW.
(10) Whenever a traffic infraction is chargeable to the owner or
lessee of a vehicle under subsection (1) of this section, the driver
shall not be arrested or issued a notice of traffic infraction unless
the vehicle is registered in a jurisdiction other than Washington
state, or unless the infraction is for an offense that is clearly
within the responsibility of the driver.
(11) Whenever the owner or lessee is issued a notice of traffic
infraction under this section the court may, on the request of the
owner or lessee, take appropriate steps to make the driver of the
vehicle, or any other person who directs the loading, maintenance, or
operation of the vehicle, a codefendant. If the codefendant is held
solely responsible and is found to have committed the traffic
infraction, the court may dismiss the notice against the owner or
lessee.
Sec. 6 RCW 4.24.210 and 2003 c 39 s 2 and 2003 c 16 s 2 are each
reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) or (4) of this
section, any public or private landowners or others in lawful
possession and control of any lands whether designated resource, rural,
or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such areas
or channels, who allow members of the public to use them for the
purposes of outdoor recreation, which term includes, but is not limited
to, the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood by private persons
for their personal use without purchasing the firewood from the
landowner, hunting, fishing, camping, picnicking, swimming, hiking,
bicycling, skateboarding or other nonmotorized wheel-based activities,
hanggliding, paragliding, rock climbing, the riding of horses or other
animals, clam digging, pleasure driving of off-road vehicles,
snowmobiles, and other vehicles, boating, nature study, winter or water
sports, viewing or enjoying historical, archaeological, scenic, or
scientific sites, without charging a fee of any kind therefor, shall
not be liable for unintentional injuries to such users.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) or (4) of this
section, any public or private landowner or others in lawful possession
and control of any lands whether rural or urban, or water areas or
channels and lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who offer or
allow such land to be used for purposes of a fish or wildlife
cooperative project, or allow access to such land for cleanup of litter
or other solid waste, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries to
any volunteer group or to any other users.
(3) Any public or private landowner, or others in lawful possession
and control of the land, may charge an administrative fee of up to
twenty-five dollars for the cutting, gathering, and removing of
firewood from the land.
(4) Nothing in this section shall prevent the liability of a
landowner or others in lawful possession and control for injuries
sustained to users by reason of a known dangerous artificial latent
condition for which warning signs have not been conspicuously posted.
A fixed anchor used in rock climbing and put in place by someone other
than a landowner is not a known dangerous artificial latent condition
and a landowner under subsection (1) of this section shall not be
liable for unintentional injuries resulting from the condition or use
of such an anchor. Nothing in RCW 4.24.200 and ((4.24.210)) this
section limits or expands in any way the doctrine of attractive
nuisance. Usage by members of the public, volunteer groups, or other
users is permissive and does not support any claim of adverse
possession.
(5) For purposes of this section, the following are not fees:
(a) A license or permit issued for statewide use under authority of
chapter 79A.05 RCW or Title 77 RCW ((is not a fee)); and
(b) A daily charge not to exceed twenty dollars per person, per
day, for access to a publicly owned ORV sports park, as defined in RCW
46.09.020, or other public facility accessed by a highway, street, or
nonhighway road for the purposes of off-road vehicle use."
HB 2617 -
By Senator Haugen
ADOPTED AS AMENDED 03/01/2006
On page 1, line 2 of the title, after "roads;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 46.09.115, 46.09.120, 46.09.180, and 46.37.010; and reenacting and amending RCW 46.16.010 and 4.24.210."