Burien, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Burien Municipal Code § 9.70.300, titled applying tattoo to a minor, is the city's tattoo rule. Every person who applies a tattoo to any minor under the age of 18 is guilty of a misdemeanor. The rule attaches to whoever applies the tattoo, so it reaches an artist working in a shop in the City of Burien as much as anyone else.

The age defense is written strictly. It is not a defense that the person applying the tattoo did not know the minor's age, unless that person establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she made a reasonable, bona fide attempt to ascertain the true age of the minor by requiring production of a driver's license or other picture identification card or paper, and did not rely solely on the oral allegations or apparent age of the minor. In practice the code puts the burden of proof on the tattooist, and a customer's say-so or a look at their face does not satisfy it.

The definition is broad. For this section, tattoo includes any permanent marking or coloring of the skin with any pigment, ink, or dye, or any procedure that leaves a visible scar on the skin. The only exemption printed in the section is for medical procedures performed by a licensed physician. The section prints no parental consent exception.

The city's criminal code supplies the surrounding rules. BMC 9.05.030(1) gives the city jurisdiction over any crime committed within its corporate limits, and BMC 9.05.060 allows any person to be tried regardless of residence. BMC 9.05.070(1) bars starting a misdemeanor prosecution more than one year after the offense, and BMC 9.05.080 requires each element to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

A search of Burien's Titles 1 through 9 finds tattoo only here and in the business and occupation tax definition of retail service, BMC 3.11.030, which lists tattoo parlor services among personal services. The code reviewed contains no tattoo shop permit or sanitation chapter.