Washington has no statewide juvenile curfew, and neither Whatcom County nor Bellingham enforces one today. Bellingham's downtown curfew was struck down as unconstitutional in 1997, and the city repealed its curfew chapter entirely in 2024.
There is no juvenile curfew to obey in Whatcom County. The state sets none, and the county has never adopted one. Bellingham once did: its 1992 ordinance barred minors 15 and under from the Central Business District late at night, but Division One of the Court of Appeals held it unconstitutionally vague in State v. J.D. (1997), and the Washington Supreme Court declined review in 1998. Bellingham later repealed its juvenile curfew chapter, BMC Chapter 10.62, by Ordinance 2024-12-035. RCW 13.32A is the Family Reconciliation Act for at-risk youth, not a curfew. Minors out late are instead subject to trespass, park-hours rules, and truancy law under the Becca Bill, RCW 28A.225.
No curfew citation exists here. A minor out late may still face a trespass citation under RCW 9A.52 for being on closed or private property, or truancy proceedings under RCW 28A.225.
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