HB 1952 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Concerning special license plates.

HB 1952 delays the approval of new special license plates until June 30, 2029, except for plates created under a specific 2025 bill, and establishes a legislative task force to review the program. The task force, composed of 7 legislators and 2 department representatives, must evaluate application processes, costs, funding, and metrics for discontinuing plates by December 1, 2025. This bill directly affects sponsoring organizations seeking new plates and the Department of Licensing, which must report annually on financials and applications. The task force’s findings will inform future decisions on special license plate programs, with the bill expiring December 1, 2026.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Last action Jan 12, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reclassified from a House Bill to a Substitute House Bill, indicating it has been amended by a committee. The scope of the new task force was expanded to include identifying metrics for discontinuing special license plates and reordering the review criteria. The original text regarding the state's ability to recoup costs was temporarily removed and then restored in a new position within the list of review issues.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include a specific requirement for the task force to identify metrics that would recommend stopping special license plate programs.

REQUIREMENT

The bill title and sponsor information were updated to reflect its status as a Substitute Bill and its referral to the House Transportation committee.

A new item was added to the task force's duties to identify specific metrics for recommending the discontinuation of special license plates.

The specific line item regarding the state's ability to recoup costs was removed from the task force's review list before being re-added in a different order.

The order of the task force's review issues was changed, moving the cost recoupment item to a later position and adding the new discontinuation metric item.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 12, 2026

Introduced

By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.

lower

Feb 28, 2025

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Feb 27, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Transportation at 1:00 PM.

lower

Feb 20, 2025

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Transportation at 4:00 PM.

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor