To be valid, a vehicle registration certificate must be signed by the registered owner, carried in the vehicle for which it is issued, and provided on demand to law enforcement and the Department of Licensing (DOL).  The registration certificate may be provided in either paper or electronic format.  Acceptable electronic formats include the display of electronic images on a cellular phone or another portable electronic device.  These requirements do not apply to vehicles for which registration is not required to be renewed annually or for properly marked public vehicles.

The substitute bill states the legislative finding that printed addresses on vehicle registrations provide an opportunity for thieves to break into vehicles to use the information for nefarious purposes.

Beginning January 1, 2023, paper-issued registration certificates for vehicles or trailers must be printed to allow for the manual removal of a registrant's address, by the named registered owner, without compromising any required information on the certificate.  

Beginning January 1, 2023, paper-issued registration certificates for vessels must be printed to allow for the manual removal of a registrant's address, by the named registered owner, without compromising any required information on the certificate.

(In support) This bill comes from a constituent whose car had been vandalized and then was robbed at home as well.  Washington is the eighth worst state in the union for car theft.  Car thefts have gone up year-over-year in numbers of thefts per 100,000, 11 percent in the last year.  This would provide some privacy if people's cars get broken into.

(Opposed) None.

(Other) The county auditors understand the desire to protect personal information.  As written, removing the addresses from the vehicle registration will have a negative impact on the county auditors' ability to operate.  Windowed envelopes are used to show the printed address.  For large counties, even a temporary workaround, such as labels, will increase costs, introduce errors, and delay delivery.  A temporary workaround such as hand applying labels will mean that an office will have to pull people off the front counter, reducing service to walk-in customers.  Mistakes may lead to registrations not being deliverable and having to be mailed again.  Most large counties have an automated insertion process, and no one wants to gum up the works.  Several years ago the county auditors did 10,709,951 transactions, about 80 percent of which were renewals and most were mail-in or online, in which case they all have to be mailed out.  Only a small portion are in-person transactions.  When talking about a scope of millions of transactions, it's important that the process can remain automated in larger counties and that smaller counties don't have to be printing labels and adding costs.  The county auditors want to work on a solution with the DOL.