Kentucky Disabled Veteran License Plates

Kentucky splits the disabled veteran plate at one hundred percent, and the fees are set in KRS 186.162(2) rather than in the plate statute. Free, initial and renewal, under KRS 186.162(2)(a): a veteran declared by VA to be one hundred percent service-connected disabled; a disabled veteran who received assistance from VA to purchase a vehicle; and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The fee is zero in every component - nothing to the Transportation Cabinet, nothing to the county clerk, nothing earmarked. Twenty-three dollars initial and twenty-three dollars renewal, under KRS 186.162(2)(d): a disabled veteran declared by VA to be between fifty percent and ninety-nine percent service-connected disabled. Of that, twelve dollars goes to the Transportation Cabinet, six to the county clerk, and five to the veterans' program trust fund established under KRS 40.460. The same paragraph and the same fee cover active, retired, veteran, reserve, and auxiliary members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard, Civil Air Patrol members, wartime Merchant Marines, and recipients of the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Bronze Star, Combat Action Badge, and Combat Infantry Badge. The fees change on January 1, 2027. Under the version of KRS 186.162 taking effect that date, the fifty-to-ninety-nine percent plate drops to seventeen dollars initial and seventeen dollars renewal, because the six-dollar county clerk component comes out of the special plate fee structure. The free plate stays free. A veteran renewing in late 2026 pays twenty-three; the same renewal after January 1, 2027 costs seventeen. Widely circulated figures of twenty-six dollars initial and twenty-six renewal for this plate are not Kentucky's current fees and do not match the statute in either version. Eligibility proof runs through KRS 186.041(10): an unexpired VA Veteran Identification Card or Veteran Health Identification Card, or a DD-2, DD-214, DD-256, DD-257, or NGB-22, or an unexpired Geneva Conventions Identification Card. Apply at the county clerk. Three structural points from KRS 186.041. Under subsection (2) an eligible person may purchase an unlimited number of special military-related plates annually for vehicles they own or lease, so there is no one-plate rule - though at zero dollars each, a hundred percent veteran plating a second and third vehicle pays nothing. That same subsection provides that a disabled veterans license plate expires on July 31, which is a different renewal date from the ordinary registration year and is the single most common way a veteran ends up with an expired plate. And under subsection (9) the legally married spouse of a qualifying member is eligible for a special military plate on the same template with a military spouse sticker. This plate is a registration plate and carries no parking privileges. Accessible parking is a separate credential under KRS 186.042, granted on the basis of a qualifying mobility impairment rather than on a service-connected rating, and a veteran who needs accessible parking must apply for it separately.