AN ACT Relating to parking privileges for veterans;
HB 1371 revises Washington’s rules for disabled parking privileges and expands eligibility to include certain veterans. The bill amends existing statutes governing special parking privileges, placards, license plates, and year tabs, and adds a new section to chapter 46.19 RCW. It broadens the list of qualifying disabilities to include veterans with a 70 percent or higher disability rating from the U.S. armed forces or Department of Veterans Affairs who use a service animal, while also retaining and restating the existing medical criteria for mobility, lung disease, vision, oxygen use, and related impairments.
The bill also changes the application and renewal process. It requires a signed written authorization from a health care practitioner for medical applicants, sets out application language warning against false statements, allows temporary placards for qualifying temporary disabilities, and requires periodic renewal of parking privileges at least every five years. For veterans, the bill directs the Department of Licensing to adopt rules, purge its database using death records, and report to the Legislature on the number of veterans who qualify and apply for these privileges. The act takes effect October 1 and includes expiration dates for certain new sections, indicating a transitional implementation structure.
HB 1371 amends RCW provisions governing special parking privileges for persons with disabilities and veterans, and it adds new statutory language to chapter 46.19 RCW. It affects the Department of Licensing’s administration of placards, identification cards, license plates, and renewal procedures, and it creates a new veteran-specific pathway tied to disability ratings and service-animal use. The bill also imposes documentation, anti-fraud, and reporting requirements that affect applicants, health care practitioners, and the department.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed the House Transportation Committee, House floor, Senate Transportation Committee, Senate floor, and House concurrence with unanimous or near-unanimous votes, with no recorded opposition in the voting history provided. The legislative record suggests strong bipartisan agreement on expanding or clarifying parking access for veterans and persons with disabilities.
No major contention is reflected in the available materials. The main policy questions appear to have been administrative rather than ideological: how to define qualifying veterans, what medical documentation should be required, how to prevent misuse or false applications, and how the Department of Licensing should implement renewals, database purges, and reporting. The Senate’s amendment indicates some refinement of the bill’s details, but the final votes show no visible disagreement among lawmakers.