Dual license required?

[bobracing]

Mine understanding is, if you're rig is street licensed it's legal on any trail as long as you have the correct pass (discover, forest, whatever) if needed in that specific area. If your rig is not street legal it needs ORV tags, plus whatever pass.

I'll preference this by saying it came from the ladies DOL while transferring a title.

My bother went down to license his dual sport motorcycle. After getting it street licensed the ladies said it need to have ORV tags to ride off-road trails. This needing an ORV tag is something new and "Jeeps" will need this soon too.

Anybody heard anything about this?

[Wrongway]

Anything the DOL can do to get into our pockets, they will do. Any loophole is a challenge accepted for them.

[79chevy39.5's]

Me and everyone I ride with only.have plates on our bikes. No issues from any enforcement

[bobracing]

I'm going to guess they have a misunderstanding of what street and ORV tags do, but thought I ask.

[Wrench]

It is my understanding that if it has ORV tags, it does not need a Discover pass.

So, if your vehicle is dual-registered (ORV and street legal), it does not require a Discover Pass.

[SPR]

Check out the WHOVA site about dual passes... it looks like the ORV sticker guys got a Pass.... pun intended.

[Wrench]

Here are some clues concerning Discover Pass requirements.

First step is to know who controls/manages the land where you are riding.

If it is a Federal Government entity such as the US Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management, the no D-Pass issues.

If it is private land (even with public access) then no D-Pass issues.

If it is Washington State managed public land such as that managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Washington State Parks or Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the D-Pass rules come into play.

In that case, if ORV use is legal where you are at and you have an ORV permit, then no D-Pass is required.

If a street plate is required to ride where you are at or you don't have an ORV permit, then a D-Pass is also required.

Where it gets really confusing (for the DNR) is if you have a dual registered bike with both an ORV permit and a street plate.

Pursuant to RCW79A.80.080 you only need a D-Pass if you need a plate, but the DNR policy is if you have a plate (need it or not to ride where you are at) you must have a D-Pass. That is why I wrote 2015 Senate Bill SB5627.

Also, if you have a street plate, then you don’t need an ORV permit to ride offroad (for now).

If you are weighing whether to buy a D-pass or ORV permit, consider that from each $30 D-Pass a total of $2.40 goes the DNR, the only state land management agency that facilitates offroad motorcycle use and none of that is required to be spent of motorized recreation.

I've asked the DNR to show me how they spend the D-Pass money, they said they would tell, but I am still waiting.

State Parks gets 84 percent of the money and they only have one location when offroad motorcycles are allowed (Riverside) and that is fully funded by ORV gas tax and NOVA grants, not D-Pass money.

When you buy an ORV permit, all of the money (minus a administrative piece of the action) goes 100 percent for ORV purposes.

On 18-May-2015, the Mason County Superior Court has once again ruled against the DNR and upheld the NMA / WOHVA position concerning the Discover Pass requirements as they relate to vehicles dual registered as both ORV and street vehicles.

Vehicles registered as an ORV are not required to have a Discover Pass where ORV use is legal regardless whether or not the vehicle is also registered for street use.

Reference: Case number 14-2-00243-6