Kansas Disabled Veteran Plate and Parking Privileges

Section 8-161 registers a disabled veteran's vehicle and issues a distinctive plate free of charge. The vehicle can be a passenger vehicle, a truck with a gross weight of not more than 20,000 pounds, or a motorcycle, owned or leased and used by the veteran. The definition is in 8-160 and the threshold is 50 percent: active service including the groups and individuals listed under 38 C.F.R. 3.7, discharged or released under an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions, a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, and a service-connected evaluation of 50 percent or more. The parking privileges are the part most summaries leave out, and Kansas splits them in two. A plate printed with the international symbol of access carries the full set: parking in any space on public or private property clearly marked as reserved for persons with a disability, except a private space reserved for a specified individual; free parking in any metered zone with exemption from any time limit during the hours parking is permitted; and free parking in an attended public parking facility or lot in a space marked as reserved for persons with a disability. A plate without the symbol still carries two of the three. The veteran gets free parking in any metered zone, exempt from any posted time limit, and free parking in a marked accessible space in an attended public facility or lot. What the plain plate does not give is the general right to use reserved accessible spaces elsewhere. That matters because the symbol is not automatic. The plate is not printed with the international symbol of access unless the veteran separately meets the definition of a person with a disability in 8-1,124, which is a mobility and vision test, not a service-connection test. A veteran rated 50 percent for conditions that do not impair walking gets the plate and the metered-parking privilege and not the accessible-space privilege. The veteran is issued an individual identification card along with the plate, and must carry it whenever the vehicle is parked in a designated accessible space. Subsection (b) covers the caregiver case. Any Kansas resident who owns or leases a vehicle and is responsible for the transportation of a disabled veteran may apply for the plate, and a resident disabled veteran may get one for a vehicle other than one they own or lease. There is no fee for these plates beyond the regular registration fee, so unlike the veteran's own plate the registration itself is still paid. Plates issued under the act are not transferable to another person. Falsely representing the qualifications, or falsely using the parking privilege, is an unclassified misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to $250.