2020 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 2 - Registration and Licensing of Motor Vehicles
Article 3 - Prestige License Plates and Special Plates for Certain Persons and Vehicles
§ 40-2-69. Free License Plates and Revalidation Decals for Disabled Veterans

1. Any disabled veteran who is a citizen and resident of this state shall, upon application therefor, be issued a free motor vehicle license plate. As used in this Code section, the term "disabled veteran" shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Code Section 48-5-48.
2. Any disabled veteran shall, upon application therefor, be issued a free motor vehicle license plate upon presentation of proof that he or she qualifies as a disabled veteran. A disabled veteran who claims that his or her disability is permanent shall furnish proof of such permanent disability through a letter from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
3. 1. Once a disabled veteran has established his or her eligibility to receive free motor vehicle license plates as a result of being permanently disabled, he or she shall be entitled to receive free plates or free revalidation decals in succeeding years on any automobile, private passenger pickup truck, motorcycle, station wagon, or van type vehicle of three-quarter tons or less that he or she may own or jointly with his or her spouse or minor child own or acquire in the future.
   2. Once a disabled veteran has established his or her eligibility to receive free motor vehicle license plates but his or her disability has not been determined to be a permanent disability, he or she shall be entitled to receive free plates or free revalidation decals in succeeding years upon furnishing, on an annual basis, proof of his or her status as a disabled veteran through a letter from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Such free plates or free revalidation decals shall apply to any automobile, private passenger pickup truck, motorcycle, station wagon, or van type vehicle of three-quarter tons or less that he or she may own or jointly with his or her spouse or minor child own or acquire in the future.
   3. 1. Two license plates or revalidation decals each year shall be furnished for vehicles other than motorcycles to disabled veterans qualifying under this Code section unless the originals are lost. Such plates shall be fastened to both the front and the rear of the vehicle.
      2. One license plate or revalidation decal each year shall be furnished for motorcycles to disabled veterans qualifying under this Code section unless the original is lost. Such plate shall be fastened to the rear of the vehicle.
   4. In the event of the death of the person who received the special license plates pursuant to this Code section, upon complying with the motor vehicle laws relating to registration and licensing of motor vehicles, his or her unremarried surviving spouse or minor child may continue to receive the free special license plates and revalidation decals until the remarriage of the surviving spouse or death of the surviving spouse or minor child.

(Ga. L. 1956, p. 336, § 1; Ga. L. 1957, p. 69, § 1; Ga. L. 1959, p. 349, § 1; Ga. L. 1961, p. 554, § 1; Ga. L. 1965, p. 325, § 1; Ga. L. 1968, p. 1211, § 1; Ga. L. 1970, p. 315, § 1; Ga. L. 1970, p. 316, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 720, § 1; Code 1981, §40-2-68; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 40; Ga. L. 1990, p. 45, § 1; Code 1981, §40-2-69, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1498, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 393, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1559, § 3; Ga. L. 2007, p. 668, § 1/SB 81; Ga. L. 2015, p. 816, § 2/HB 48; Ga. L. 2016, p. 166, § 2/SB 258; Ga. L. 2016, p. 770, § 1/HB 862.)

The 2016 amendments. The first 2016 amendment, effective April 26, 2016, substituted the present provisions of subsection (a) for the former provisions, which read: "Any disabled veteran who is a citizen and resident of this state shall, upon application therefor, be issued a free motor vehicle license plate. As used in this Code section, the term 'disabled veteran' means any veteran who was discharged under honorable conditions and who has been adjudicated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as being 100 percent totally disabled or as being less than 100 percent totally disabled but is compensated at the 100 percent level due to individual unemployability and is entitled to receive a statutory award from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for:

"(1) Loss or permanent loss of use of one or both feet;

"(2) Loss or permanent loss of use of one or both hands;

"(3) Loss of sight in one or both eyes; or

"(4) Permanent impairment of vision of both eyes of the following status: central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, with corrective glasses, or central visual acuity of more than 20/200 if there is a field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to such an extent that the widest diameter of visual field subtends on angular distance no greater than 20 degrees in the better eye." The second 2016 amendment, effective May 3, 2016, made identical changes as the first 2016 amendment.

- Veterans', honorary, and distinctive drivers' licenses, § 40-5-36.

- Free Veterans License Plate, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division, Subject 560-10-27.

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Qualifications for vehicle exemption.

- For disabled veteran to be entitled to vehicle exemption, veteran's disability must be service connected. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-19.