(1) A registered owner may apply to the department for a personalized license plate for any vehicle required to display one or two vehicle license plates, excluding vehicles registered under chapter 46.87 RCW, upon terms and conditions established by the department. The application for personalized license plates must contain the combination of letters or numbers, or both, requested by the registered owner.

(2) Personalized license plates must:

(a) Be the same design as standard issue license plates;

(b) Consist of numbers or letters or any combination of numbers or letters;

(c) Not exceed seven positions unless proposed by the department and approved by the Washington state patrol; and

(d) Not contain less than one character.

(3) A person who purchased personalized license plates containing three letters and three digits on or between the dates of August 9, 1971, and November 6, 1973, is not required to pay the additional annual renewal fee described in RCW 46.17.210.

(4) The department shall not issue or may refuse to issue personalized license plates that:

(a) Duplicate or conflict with an existing or projected vehicle license plate series or other numbering systems for records kept by the department; or

(b) May carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency or which would be misleading.

(5) Personalized license plates must be issued only to the registered owner of the vehicle on which they are to be displayed. The registered owner must:

(a) Pay the personalized license plate fee required under RCW 46.17.210, in addition to any other fee or taxes due;

(b) Renew personalized license plates annually, regardless of whether or not the vehicle on which the personalized license plates are displayed will be driven on the public highways;

(c) Surrender personalized license plates that have not been renewed to the department. The failure to surrender expired personalized license plates is a traffic infraction; and

(d) Immediately report to the department when personalized license plates have been transferred to another vehicle or another owner.

(6) The department may establish rules as necessary to carry out this section including, but not limited to, identifying the maximum number of positions on personalized license plates for motorcycles.

Effective date—Intent—Legislation to reconcile chapter 161, Laws of 2010 and other amendments made during the 2010 legislative session—2010 c 161: See notes following RCW 46.04.013.