Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGLO 1979 NO. 1 >

Neither RCW 66.28.010 nor RCW 66.28.020 prohibit a person who has a contract vendor's interest in a restaurant holding a retail liquor license in the state of Arizona from legally serving as a licensed agent of a wine wholesaler and importer in the state of Washington.

AGLO 1981 NO. 2 >

(1) A tavern operator holding appropriate state liquor licenses who is, himself, over twenty-one years of age may not be denied the continuation or reissuance of those licenses by the State Liquor Control Board solely on the ground that he is married to a female who is under twenty-one. (2) Under those circumstances, however, the wife‑-if employed as the tavern bookkeeper‑-would be unable to legally enter the tavern premises in the course of her employment.

AGO 1968 NO. 2 >

(1) The judge with whom an application for an occupational driver's license is filed, rather than the director of the department of motor vehicles, has the initial responsibility to determine the eligibility of an applicant to be issued an occupational driver's license. (2) The director of the department of motor vehicles may review a court order for the issuance of an occupational driver's license in light of the department's own records to see if there has been compliance with both the procedural and substantive requirements of RCW 46.20.380 and 46.20.390. (3) Proof of the financial responsibility of an applicant for an occupational driver's license must be filed before a judge can issue an order for the issuance of an occupational driver's license. (4) A person who has been convicted for the first time of a particular offense relating to motor vehicles which requires the mandatory suspension or revocation of his driver's license, other than negligent homicide or manslaughter, is eligible for issuance of an occupational driver's license even though he has previously been convicted of other offenses relating to motor vehicles, also requiring the mandatory suspension or revocation of a driver's license, so long as at least one year has elapsed since his last previous conviction of such an offense; conversely, if the immediate conviction does not constitute the applicant's first conviction of the particular offense, he is not eligible for such a driver's license.

AGO 2008 NO. 4 >

The licensing exemption provided in RCW 19.28.091(1) applies to any entity employed by a utility to perform the type of work described in the statute, whether the electrical work is performed by the prime contractor directly or by a subcontractor.

AGLO 1975 NO. 4 >

Although additional gross weight permits may be purchased at any time during a calendar year under RCW 46.44.095, this statute, as amended by § 3, chapter 150, Laws of 1973, 1st Ex. Sess., does not permit such permits to be purchased for single or multiple monthly periods not necessarily extending for the balance of the calendar year in which the permit is obtained.

AGLO 1978 NO. 4 >

A person need not have been issued a Washington state motor vehicle operator's license in order to operate a railroad train within the state.

AGLO 1979 NO. 7 >

The State Department of Licensing is not presently authorized by law to refund either a lawfully paid motor vehicle license fee or the accompanying motor vehicle excise tax payment made by a vehicle owner prior to the beginning of the new registration year for which the payments are made simply because, prior to the beginning of the new registration year, the vehicle is destroyed or is removed from the state and licensed in another jurisdiction.

AGLO 1976 NO. 8 >

Nothing in chapter 18.85 RCW, relating to the licensing of real estate salesmen, prohibits the issuance of a real estate license to a person whose residence is outside the state of Washington but works full time for a resident broker.

AGO 1978 NO. 9 >

Although a bona fide charitable or nonprofit organization organized primarily for purposes other than the conduct of gambling activities may, under the circumstances set forth in RCW 9.46.030(3), conduct bingo, raffles and amusement games without obtaining a license from the State Gambling Commission to do so, that organization may not lawfully conduct a "fund-raising event" as defined in RCW 9.46.020(23) without obtaining such a license.

AGO 2008 NO. 9 >

1.  For the purposes of Laws of 2008, ch. 278, § 1(3), a person who offers to purchase a distressed home, and no more, does not thereby become a “distressed home consultant.”  2.  For the purposes of Laws of 2008, ch. 278, §§ 2, 3, a real estate licensee would likely become a “distressed home consultant” if the real estate licensee contacts the distressed homeowner’s lender to arrange a “short sale” in which the homeowner’s debt to the lender will be discharged for the amount of the sale price of the home when the sale price is less than the homeowner owes on the loan.  3.  For the purposes of Laws of 2008, ch. 278, §§ 2, 3, a real estate licensee becomes a “distressed home consultant” by performing licensed activities in connection with a real estate transaction when the property involved is a “distressed home,” if the licensee (1) solicits the owner; (2) offers to perform a service on the owner’s behalf; and (3) represents that the service will satisfy one or more of the conditions listed in Laws of 2008, ch. 278, § 1(3)(a).