Title 46 — Title 46 MOTOR VEHICLES

(1) It is a misdemeanor for any person:(a) To display or cause or permit to be displayed or have in his or her possession any fictitious or fraudulently altered driver's license or identicard;(b) To lend his or her driver's license or identicard to any other person or knowingly p…

The department of licensing shall incorporate a section on bicycle safety and sharing the road into its instructional publications for drivers and shall include questions in the written portion of the driver's license examination on bicycle safety and sharing the road with bicycl…

The department's instructional publications for drivers must include information on:(1) The proper use of the left-hand lane by motor vehicles on multilane highways; and(2) Bicyclists' and pedestrians' rights and responsibilities.[ 1999 c 6 s 15; 1998 c 165 s 5; 1986 c 93 s 3.]No…

(1) Application. The application of a person under the age of 18 years for a driver's license or a motorcycle endorsement must be signed by a parent, guardian, employer, or responsible adult as defined in RCW 46.20.075.(2) Traffic safety education requirement. For a person under …

(1) The department may provide a method to distinguish the driver's license of a person who is under the age of twenty-one from the driver's license of a person who is twenty-one years of age or older.(2) An instruction permit must be identified as an "instruction permit" and iss…

Each operator of a wheelchair conveyance shall undergo a special examination conducted for the purpose of determining whether that person can properly and safely operate the conveyance on public roadways within a specified area. An operator's license issued after the special exam…

(1) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated for this purpose, any person who is a male citizen or noncitizen of the United States, who applies for an original, the renewal of, or a replacement instruction permit, intermediate license, driver's license, or identicard und…

The department of licensing shall provide a statement whereby the licensee may certify his or her willingness to make an anatomical gift under RCW 68.64.030, as now or hereafter amended. The department shall provide the statement in at least one of the following ways:(1) On each …

The department shall electronically transfer the information of all persons who upon application for a driver's license or identicard volunteer to donate organs or tissue to a registry created in RCW 68.64.200, and any subsequent changes to the applicant's donor status when the a…

(1) The department shall provide each driver's license or identicard applicant with written materials regarding making a donation of bone marrow and being placed on the bone marrow donor registry at the completion of their licensing transaction.(2) The department of licensing, in…

The department shall prepare and issue drivers' licenses and identicards using processes that prohibit as nearly as possible the alteration or reproduction of such cards, or the superimposing of other photographs on such cards, without ready detection.[ 1999 c 6 s 17; 1977 ex.s. …

(1) Issuance. The department shall issue an identicard, containing a picture, if the applicant:(a) Does not hold a valid Washington driver's license;(b) Proves the applicant's identity as required by RCW 46.20.035; and(c) Pays the required fee. Except as provided in subsection (7…

(1) The department shall maintain a negative file. It shall contain negatives of all pictures taken by the department of licensing as authorized by this chapter. Negatives in the file shall not be available for public inspection and copying under chapter 42.56 RCW.(2) The departm…

The rules and regulations adopted pursuant to RCW 46.20.070 through 46.20.119 shall be reasonable in view of the purposes to be served by RCW 46.20.070 through 46.20.119.[ 1990 c 250 s 38; 1969 ex.s. c 155 s 6.]Notes:Effective date—Purpose—1969 ex.s. c 155: See notes following RC…

(1)(a) To obtain an initial driver's license under this section, except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, the following persons must, in addition to other skills and examination requirements as prescribed by the department, satisfactorily complete a driver training e…

The department may approve the use of electronic translation devices to support the driver's license application and issuance process, including for: Driver training education purposes, including for behind-the-wheel instruction; driver's license examination purposes; and assessm…

An applicant for a new or renewed driver's license must successfully pass a driver licensing examination to qualify for a driver's license. The department must ensure that examinations are given at places and times reasonably available to the people of this state. If the departme…

(1) An additional $1 fee shall be imposed on each application for an original or renewal of a regular driver's license, regular identicard, enhanced driver's license, or enhanced identicard. The entire amount of the fee shall be used to pay for processing costs for driver's licen…

(1) The department may enter into an informal agreement with one or more other licensing jurisdictions to waive the requirement for the examination involving operating a motor vehicle by licensed drivers, age eighteen years or older, from that jurisdiction.(2) The department may …

The department may make rules to carry out the purposes of RCW 46.20.120 and 46.20.125.[ 2005 c 61 s 4.]

(1) The director shall prescribe the content of the driver licensing examination and the manner of conducting the examination, which shall include but is not limited to:(a) A test of the applicant's eyesight and ability to see, understand, and follow highway signs regulating, war…

(1) The department shall develop processes and forms to enable individuals to submit blood type documentation when applying for or renewing a driver's license or identicard.(2) The department may charge a one-time administrative fee not to exceed $2 for processing the initial blo…

The department shall coordinate with health care providers, emergency responders, and blood donation organizations to educate the public about the availability and potential benefits of including blood type information on state-issued identification.[ 2025 c 217 s 5.]Notes:Findin…

The department is authorized to adopt rules necessary to implement chapter 217, Laws of 2025 including, but not limited to, specifying acceptable forms of blood type documentation and updating existing systems.[ 2025 c 217 s 6.]Notes:Finding—Intent—Effective date—2025 c 217: See …

The department shall post signs at each driver licensing facility advertising the availability of voter registration services, of automatic voter registration services for enhanced license and enhanced identification card applicants, and advising of the qualifications to register…

(1) Before issuing an original license or identicard or renewing a license or identicard under this chapter, the licensing agent shall determine if the applicant wants to register to vote or update his or her voter registration by asking the following question:"Do you want to reg…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 6081-S.SL) ***For persons eighteen years of age or older who meet requirements for voter registration and persons sixteen or seventeen years of age who meet requirements to sign up to register to vote, who have been issued or are renewing an enhanced d…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 6081-S.SL) ***(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the department shall annually provide to Washington technology solutions an electronic data file. The data file must:(a) Contain information on all licensed drivers and identicard …

(1) The department, upon receipt of a fee of seventy-two dollars, unless the driver's license is issued for a period other than eight years, in which case the fee shall be nine dollars for each year that the license is issued, which includes the fee for the required photograph, s…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) or (5) of this section or RCW 46.20.1191(10), every driver's license expires on the eighth anniversary of the licensee's birthdate following the issuance of the license.(2) A person may renew a license on or before the expiration date by s…

The department of licensing shall establish a procedure for renewal of drivers' licenses under this chapter which does not deprive the applicant during the renewal process of an identification bearing the applicant's photograph.This identification shall be designed to and shall b…

The department, at the time a person renews his or her driver's license or identicard, or surrenders a driver's license from another jurisdiction pursuant to RCW 46.20.021 and makes an application for a driver's license or an identicard, shall provide the applicant with written i…

Before issuing a driver's license or identicard that complies with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005, P.L. 109-13, and before storing or including data about Washington state residents in any database, records facility, or computer system for purposes of meeting the req…

(1) The department of licensing and the office of financial management may analyze the costs and burdens to the state of Washington, and to applicants of drivers' licenses or identicards, of complying with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005, P.L. 109-13, and any related …

(1) Beginning July 1, 2018, except for enhanced drivers' licenses and identicards issued under RCW 46.20.202, the department must mark a driver's license or identicard issued under this chapter in accordance with the requirements of 6 C.F.R. Sec. 37.71 as it existed on July 23, 2…

(1) A driver's license or identicard issued with the design features required in RCW 46.20.192 may not be used as evidence of or as a basis to infer an individual's citizenship or immigration status for any purpose.(2) The presence of the design features required in RCW 46.20.192…

(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the department, working in conjunction with the department of commerce, shall create and implement an identicard program to provide homeless individuals within Washington state a state-issued ident…

(1) If an instruction permit, identicard, or a driver's license is lost or destroyed, the person to whom it was issued may obtain a duplicate of it upon furnishing proof of such fact satisfactory to the department and payment of a fee of $20 to the department.(2) A replacement pe…

(1) The department may enter into a memorandum of understanding with any federal agency for the purposes of facilitating the crossing of the border between the state of Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia.(2) The department may enter into an agreement with th…

The department shall develop and implement a statewide education campaign to educate Washington citizens about the border-crossing initiative authorized by chapter 7, Laws of 2007. The educational campaign must include information on the forms of travel for which the existing and…

Whenever any person, after applying for or receiving a driver's license or identicard, moves from the address named in the application or in the license or identicard issued to him or her, or changes his or her name of record, the person shall, within ten days thereafter, notify …

(1) The department is authorized to cancel any driver's license upon determining that the licensee was not entitled to the issuance of the license, or that the licensee failed to give the required or correct information in his or her application, or that the licensee is incompete…

(1) The privilege of driving a motor vehicle on the highways of this state given to a nonresident hereunder shall be subject to suspension or revocation by the department in like manner and for like cause as a driver's license issued hereunder may be suspended or revoked.(2) The …

(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to rent a motor vehicle of any kind including a motorcycle to any other person unless the latter person is then duly licensed as a vehicle driver for the kind of motor vehicle being rented in this state or, in case of a nonresident, then th…

(1) Whenever the department proposes to withhold the driving privilege of a person or disqualify a person from operating a commercial motor vehicle and this action is made mandatory by the provisions of this chapter or other law, the department must give notice to the person in w…

(1) In addition to any other authority to revoke driving privileges under this chapter, the department shall revoke all driving privileges of a juvenile when the department receives notice from a court pursuant to RCW 9.41.040(5), 13.40.265, 66.44.365, 69.41.065, 69.50.420, 69.52…

If a person issued an intermediate license is convicted of or found to have committed a traffic offense described in chapter 46.61 RCW or violated restrictions placed on an intermediate license under RCW 46.20.075:(1) On the first such conviction or finding the department shall m…

(1) Every court having jurisdiction over offenses committed under this chapter, or any other act of this state or municipal ordinance adopted by a local authority regulating the operation of motor vehicles on highways, or any federal authority having jurisdiction over offenses su…

The department shall revoke the license of any driver for the period of one calendar year unless otherwise provided in this section, upon receiving a record of the driver's conviction of any of the following offenses, when the conviction has become final:(1) For vehicular homicid…

(1) The department of licensing shall adopt procedures in cooperation with the administrative office of the courts and the department of corrections to implement RCW 46.20.285.(2) The department of licensing shall ensure that the department of corrections has direct access to app…