---
type: "Bill"
title: "Authorizing the governor to enter into compacts with federally recognized Indian tribes principally located within Washington state for the issuance of tribal license plates and vehicle registration."
description: "Authorizing the governor to enter into compacts with federally recognized Indian tribes principally located within Washington state for the issuance of tribal license plates and vehicle registration."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "HB 2491"
citation: "Washington HB 2491 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["INDIANS", "MOTOR VEHICLES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ramos"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-15"
last_action: "2020-03-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f1400acb-1612-4166-ac14-853c7efac38f"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2491&year=2019"
source_hash: "d47d3f649ff6db03b6eb8c41e3c9baa686fae24c54ff5eb5b6804be2a81a4dcd"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wa"]
---

# Washington HB 2491 (2019-2020) — Authorizing the governor to enter into compacts with federally recognized Indian tribes principally located within Washington state for the issuance of tribal license plates and vehicle registration.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/2491.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#44) — **47–1** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#28) — **94–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ramos — primary (person)
- Barkis — cosponsor (person)
- Callan — cosponsor (person)
- Leavitt — cosponsor (person)
- Lekanoff — cosponsor (person)
- Valdez — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-15** First reading, referred to Transportation. `reading-1`
- **2020-02-10** TR - Majority; do pass.
- **2020-02-10** Minority; do not pass.
- **2020-02-11** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2020-02-14** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2020-02-16** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2020-02-16** Third reading, passed; yeas, 94; nays, 2; absent, 0; excused, 2. `reading-3`
- **2020-02-18** First reading, referred to Transportation. `reading-1`
- **2020-03-02** TRAN - Majority; do pass.
- **2020-03-02** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2020-03-02** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2020-03-04** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2020-03-06** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2020-03-06** Third reading, passed; yeas, 47; nays, 1; absent, 0; excused, 1. `reading-3`
- **2020-03-09** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2020-03-10** President signed. `passage`
- **2020-03-11** Delivered to Governor.
- **2020-03-25** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-25** Chapter 118, 2020 Laws. `became-law`
- **2020-03-25** Effective date 6/11/2020. `became-law`
- **2020-02-10T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Transportation at 01:30 PM
- **2020-02-24T20:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Transportation at 03:30 PM
- **2020-03-02T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Transportation at 01:30 PM
- **2020-02-06T20:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Transportation at 03:30 PM

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f1400acb-1612-4166-ac14-853c7efac38f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).