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Disabled Parking in Washington — a Veteran Route Added in 2025, and No Doctor Needed for It

RCW 46.19.010(1)(k), added by 2025 c 295 and effective 1 October 2025, makes a veteran with a 70 percent or higher disability rating who uses a service animal eligible for special parking privileges. It sits outside the subsection that requires a practitioner to determine the disability, and placards are issued free of charge.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Free — parking placards and identification cards must be issued free of charge

RCW 46.19.010(1)(k), as amended by 2025 c 295: a natural person may apply for special parking privileges who "Is a veteran, as defined in RCW 41.04.007, who has a 70 percent or higher disability rating from the United States armed forces or United States department of veterans affairs and uses a service animal as defined in 28 C.F.R. 35.104".
RCW 46.19.010(2) provides that "The disability in subsection (1)(a) through (j) of this section must be determined by either: (a) A licensed physician; (b) An advanced registered nurse practitioner licensed under chapter 18.79 RCW; or (c) A physician assistant licensed under chapter 18.71A RCW." Paragraph (k) is not within that list.
The other ten criteria in subsection (1) are the ordinary ones: cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest; severely limited walking due to an arthritic, neurological or orthopedic condition; cannot walk without a brace, cane, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assistive device; uses portable oxygen; forced expiratory respiratory volume under one litre per second or arterial oxygen tension under 60 mm/hg on room air at rest; class III or IV cardiac limitation on American Heart Association standards; acute sensitivity to automobile emissions; limited mobility with no vision or severely limited vision; a progressive eye condition that may lead to blindness; and a form of porphyria where the applicant would significantly benefit from decreased light exposure.
RCW 46.19.010(7): a person who qualifies for permanent privileges may receive up to two parking placards; or one set of special disability plates if they are the registered owner of the vehicle; or one placard and one set of plates; or one special parking year tab and one placard.
RCW 46.19.010(8): "Parking placards and identification cards described in this section must be issued free of charge."
RCW 46.19.010(6): a qualifying person receives an identification card showing their name, date of birth and the serial number of the placard.
RCW 46.19.010(5): a person expected to improve within twelve months may be issued a temporary placard for up to twelve months, renewable on a new application with certification; special disability plates may not be issued for a temporary disability.
2025 c 295 took effect 1 October 2025, and sections 1, 3 and 4 of that act expire 1 October 2035.

Who is entitled to it

The privilege is issued to the person with the disability.
A 70 percent or higher rating is the figure the new criterion names.
Your home is in Washington.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

1Read paragraph (k) before booking a doctor’s appointment. It is a rating plus a service animal, and it is not in the list of criteria the statute says a practitioner must determine.
2Bring the rating letter and something establishing the service animal. The statute takes the 28 C.F.R. 35.104 definition, which is about a dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.
3The other ten criteria are still there and still open to you. A veteran who cannot walk 200 feet without resting qualifies under paragraph (a) with a practitioner’s signature, whatever the rating.
4Ask for the identification card as well as the placard. Subsection (6) requires one, and it is the card the ferry system accepts as proof of disability when a VA card will not do.
5Decide between plates and placards using subsection (7). Two placards travel between vehicles; plates only work on a vehicle you are the registered owner of.
6Do not pay for it. Subsection (8) requires placards and identification cards to be issued free of charge.
7Note the sunset. The 2025 act that created the veteran criterion carries its own expiry of 1 October 2035, so this is a route to use rather than to bank on indefinitely.

Form: Application to the Department of Licensing for special parking privileges
File with: Washington State Department of Licensing
Documents you will need: va benefit summary letter
Periodic recertification: Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.

CorrectionA disabled American veteran plate under RCW 46.18.235 is not a parking privilege. The parking route is this section, and it produces a placard, an identification card, or a plate bearing the international symbol of access.

Worth knowingThe drafting of paragraph (k) is the point. Every other criterion in subsection (1) has to be determined by a physician, an advanced registered nurse practitioner or a physician assistant. The veteran criterion was placed outside that requirement, which means the rating letter and the service animal do the work a medical appointment would otherwise do.

Worth knowingThe section was amended twice in the 2025 session without either amendment referring to the other, and a further version takes effect 30 June 2027. The veteran criterion appears in the 2025 c 295 version read here; check which version is current when you apply.

Sources

authority · statuteRCW 46.19.010, Criteria for natural persons (as amended by 2025 c 295, effective until October 1, 2035) — subsection (1) lists eleven criteria for special parking privileges, of which (k) is "Is a veteran, as defined in RCW 41.04.007, who has a 70 percent or higher disability rating from the United States armed forces or United States department of veterans affairs and uses a service animal as defined in 28 C.F.R. 35.104"; subsection (2) requires the disabilities in subsection (1)(a) through (j) — not (k) — to be determined by a licensed physician, an advanced registered nurse practitioner licensed under chapter 18.79 RCW, or a physician assistant licensed under chapter 18.71A RCW; subsection (3) requires a signed written authorization on a prescription pad or paper, office letterhead, or by electronic means; subsection (5) provides for a temporary placard of up to twelve months where improvement is expected and bars special plates for a temporary disability; subsection (6) requires an identification card showing name, date of birth and placard serial number; subsection (7) allows up to two placards, or one set of special plates, or one placard and one set of plates, or one special parking year tab and one placard; subsection (8): "Parking placards and identification cards described in this section must be issued free of charge" [2025 c 295 s 1; 2020 c 80 s 32; 2017 c 112 s 1; 2014 c 124 s 2; 2011 c 96 s 32; 2010 c 161 s 701; effective date 2025 c 295: October 1, 2025; expiration date for sections 1, 3 and 4 of 2025 c 295: October 1, 2035]

Why only one source type: The section sets the criteria, the certification requirement, the entitlement and the fee in one place; the Department of Licensing publishes no additional condition that was reachable this session.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.