Alaska Window Tint: 70 Percent Front Sides, 40 Percent Rear, No Mirrored Film

Alaska's tint rule is 13 AAC 04.223, a Department of Public Safety regulation issued under AS 28.05.011(a)(2), which directs the commissioner of public safety to adopt minimum equipment standards for vehicles. Nothing in the Alaska Statutes states a light transmittance percentage, so a search of Title 28 for the phrase returns nothing and the whole answer sits in the Administrative Code.

The permitted numbers are narrow by national standards. Aftermarket film on the driver and front passenger side windows must permit at least 70 percent light transmittance, which rules out most of what is sold as a factory-look tint. The rear door windows, quarter glasses and back glass drop to at least 40 percent. The front windshield gets nothing except the strip the regulation itself calls an eyebrow, which may not extend downward more than five inches from the top of the glass. Limousines and passenger buses used to transport persons for hire, motor homes, and vehicles the manufacturer identifies as multipurpose are taken out of the percentage scheme entirely and instead must comply with Standard No. 205, Glazing Materials, in 49 C.F.R. 571.205 (1992).

Two further limits catch film that would otherwise pass the meter. Subsection (a) bans mirrored tinting material on any window with no exception and no medical override, and it bans aftermarket striping material on any window except as the section allows. Subsection (d) restricts colour to green, gray, bronze, or neutral smoke, or a sun reflective auto film, so a blue, red or purple film is unlawful in Alaska at any transmittance level.

The medical exemption in subsection (c) is unusual in that it requires no state permit and no sticker. A driver or a passenger who frequently travels in the vehicle must be required for medical reasons to be shielded from the direct rays of the sun, the medical reasons must be certified annually by a physician licensed to practice in Alaska, and the certification must be carried in the vehicle. An out-of-state physician's letter does not satisfy it, and a certificate written more than a year ago does not either.

Measurement is governed by subsection (e). A light transmittance measuring device must be used, its accuracy must be certified by the manufacturer, and the reading carries an allowance for manufacturing variances of plus or minus three percent. In practice that means a driver-side window metering at 67 percent is inside the tolerance for the 70 percent line. Subsection (f) defines light transmittance as the ratio of light passing through the window, including the glazing itself, to the light falling on it, so the figure is the glass and the film together and not the film alone.

Two dated provisions remain in force. Subsection (g) required all vehicles to comply by July 1, 1994. Subsection (h) grandfathers a tinted rear window only, and only where the owner has proof the rear window tinting was installed before July 1, 1994 and the vehicle carries both driver-side and passenger-side rearview mirrors. There is no equivalent grandfather for a front side window.

Because AS 28.01.010(a) makes Title 28 and its regulations uniform throughout the state and forbids a municipality from enacting an inconsistent ordinance, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and every borough run on these same figures. A local government cannot lower the 70 percent front-side threshold or authorise a darker film.

Alaska has no periodic vehicle safety inspection to catch tint, and that is a matter of record rather than inference: the whole of 13 AAC 06, the chapter titled Inspection of Vehicles, is dead. 13 AAC 06.060 (Periodic inspection required), 13 AAC 06.070 (Official Inspection Stations) and 13 AAC 06.080 (Display of certificate of inspection) each print as annulled under AS 44.62.320, passed 5/26/76, and the remaining sections in the chapter print as repealed. What replaced the lane is roadside enforcement under 13 AAC 04.006: an officer with reasonable cause to believe a vehicle is not equipped as required may order the driver to stop and submit to inspection and tests, and a driver must also stop where a sign or a uniformed officer directs vehicles into a roadside inspection.

A tint citation is correctable. The Alaska Supreme Court's traffic bail forfeiture schedule, Administrative Rule 43.1, adopted under AS 28.05.151, lists 13 AAC 04.223 for tinted windows as Corr/150: bail of $150 if the film is not removed, and dismissal if it is. Under 13 AAC 04.007 the citation must name the section violated and the repair required and must set a court date at least five days out, excluding holidays and weekends, and the driver may have the work done anywhere of their choosing within a 100-mile radius of where the citation issued. Under 13 AAC 04.008 the driver may then present the vehicle before that date at an Alaska State Trooper post, at the police agency that inspected it, or at an official inspection station, and the inspecting officer voids the citation and notifies the court.

If the film stays on, the offence is an infraction under AS 28.90.010(c), punishable by a fine of up to $300, and AS 28.90.010(d) confirms an infraction is not a criminal offence, carries no jail, and gives no right to a jury or to court-appointed counsel. A $20 surcharge is added under AS 12.55.039(a)(4) because the bail amount exceeds $30. Under AS 28.05.151(d) the scheduled amount doubles if the stop happens in a highway work zone or a traffic safety corridor as those terms are defined in AS 28.90.990.