Title 31
Motor and Other Vehicles

Chapter 6
Registration Fees

R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-6-8

§ 31-6-8. Disabled veterans.

(a) Any veteran who has been honorably discharged from the service of the armed forces or the Merchant Marine of the United States in any of the wars or campaigns in which the United States has been engaged and who, while engaged in these wars or campaigns or as a result of engagement in these wars or campaigns, by reason of amputation, has lost one or both of the veteran’s arms, hands, feet, or legs, or who, by reason of other permanent injury, has lost the use of one or both of the veteran’s arms, hands, feet, or legs, or to whom has been granted a motor vehicle under chapter 870-2D, United States Public Laws 663, enacted 1946, 79th Congress, or has suitable documentation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to establish that the veteran:

(1) Has a combined service connected disability rating of one hundred percent (100%); or

(2) Is considered “individually unemployable” due to the veteran’s service-connected disability, shall be exempt from the payment of any fee for the annual registration of and a license to operate that motor vehicle.

(b) The administrator for the division of motor vehicles shall issue to an eligible veteran for use on an automobile, or on a commercial vehicle having a gross weight of twelve thousand pounds (12,000 lbs.) or less, registration plates designated “Disabled Veteran.” Upon the death of the holder of “Disabled Veteran” plates, the plates may be transferred to the veteran’s surviving spouse for the spouse’s lifetime or until the spouse remarries. Only one set of “Disabled Veteran” plates shall be issued to an eligible veteran and only after certification of eligibility from the Veterans’ Administration or other satisfactory documentation of eligibility is presented.

History of Section.
P.L. 1950, ch. 2595, art. 14, § 4; P.L. 1952, ch. 2937, § 7; G.L. 1956, § 31-6-8; P.L. 1993, ch. 134, § 1; P.L. 2004, ch. 537, § 1; P.L. 2018, ch. 119, § 1; P.L. 2018, ch. 224, § 1; P.L. 2023, ch. 53, § 2, effective June 12, 2023; P.L. 2023, ch. 54, § 2, effective June 12, 2023.