Arizona vs Washington: Local Ordinance Comparison (2026)

ADU Rules

Arizona's HB 2720 (2024), codified at A.R.S. 9-461.18, requires municipalities over 75,000 population to permit accessory dwelling units on single-family lots, limiting restrictive zoning, owner-occupancy, and parking mandates. HB 2928 (2025) extends an ADU mandate to counties.

Washington HB 1337 (RCW 36.70A.681) requires cities and counties to allow two ADUs per lot in urban growth areas, preempting restrictive local rules.

Tiny Homes

Under ARS 9-461.18, every Arizona municipality with more than 75,000 residents must permit at least one attached and one detached accessory dwelling unit on any lot zoned for a single-family home. Cities that failed to adopt compliant rules by January 1, 2025 must allow ADUs outright.

Washington allows tiny houses on permanent foundations under IRC Appendix Q (adopted in the state building code) for dwellings 400 square feet or less. RCW 35.21.686 governs tiny houses with wheels and tiny house communities.

Beekeeping

Arizona requires every beekeeper to register apiaries with the State Department of Agriculture, regardless of city rules, and follows uniform statewide pest and disease management standards.

Washington RCW 15.60 requires all beekeepers with one or more hives to register their apiaries annually with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, supporting disease tracking and pollinator health statewide.

Breed Restrictions

Washington RCW 16.08 governs dangerous and potentially dangerous dogs through behavior-based standards rather than breed identity, requiring registration, secure confinement, and liability insurance for declared dangerous dogs across all jurisdictions.

Chickens & Livestock

Arizona generally leaves chicken and livestock keeping to municipal zoning, but state law protects agricultural operations on land zoned or used for farming under the Right to Farm Act.

Washington bars owners from willfully or negligently letting livestock run at large in any stock restricted area under RCW 16.24.065. Owners are liable for trespass damage, and neighboring landowners need not fence animals out to recover.

Dog Leash Laws

Arizona requires all dogs to be on a leash no longer than six feet whenever off the owner's property, and enforces statewide rabies licensing for dogs over three months old.

Exotic Pets

Arizona Game and Fish Commission rules apply uniformly statewide and prohibit private possession of restricted live wildlife including big cats, primates, alligators, and venomous reptiles without a special license.

Washington RCW 16.30 prohibits private possession, breeding, and importation of dangerous wild animals including big cats, bears, wolves, and primates, applying uniformly statewide with limited grandfather and accreditation exceptions.

Pet Limits

Washington RCW 16.52 criminalizes animal cruelty and neglect statewide, providing the legal foundation for animal hoarding prosecutions when owners fail to provide necessary food, water, shelter, and veterinary care to multiple animals.

Wildlife Feeding

Arizona makes it unlawful to intentionally feed or attract wildlife, except birds and tree squirrels, in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties under A.R.S. 13-2927. The offense is a petty offense targeting coyotes, javelina, and similar animals.

Washington bans intentionally feeding or attracting large wild carnivores, bears, cougars and wolves, to any land or building, and treats a first intentional violation as a misdemeanor under RCW 77.15.792.

Structure Height Limits

Washington adopts the International Building Code statewide through chapter 51-50 WAC, setting maximum heights and stories tied to construction type and occupancy classifications.

Tobacco Retail License

Washington RCW 70.345 requires licensing for vapor product retailers, distributors, and delivery sellers, with state Department of Revenue oversight and tax collection.

Juvenile Curfew

Washington does not impose a statewide juvenile curfew; cities may enact local curfews under general police powers, subject to constitutional limits.

Commercial Drones

Arizona commercial drone pilots operate under FAA Part 107 and ARS 13-3729 state rules, with cities barred from imposing separate licensing or operational regulations.

Commercial drone operations in Washington are governed by FAA Part 107, with state law adding criminal liability for invasive uses and limited authority over state-owned land.

Minimum Wage Preemption

Washington RCW 49.46 sets a statewide minimum wage adjusted annually for inflation; as of 2026 it is $17.13 per hour. Washington does not preempt local minimum wages, so several cities set higher rates.

Coastal Development

Washington's Shoreline Management Act (RCW 90.58) requires Shoreline Substantial Development Permits for most construction within 200 feet of marine and freshwater shorelines statewide.

Flood Zones

Arizona statutorily delegates floodplain regulation to counties and flood control districts, setting uniform minimum standards for development in mapped floodplains statewide.

Washington requires all communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program to adopt floodplain ordinances meeting state minimum standards under RCW 86.16.

Stormwater Management

Arizona regulates stormwater discharges through the AZPDES program under ARS Title 49, requiring permits for construction, industrial, and municipal stormwater statewide.

Washington Department of Ecology administers federally-required NPDES stormwater permits statewide, setting minimum standards for municipal, construction, and industrial stormwater that all jurisdictions must implement.

Fireworks

A.R.S. 36-1606 makes permissible consumer fireworks a matter of statewide concern: cities and counties may regulate their use but may not ban their sale, and aerial fireworks remain illegal for consumers statewide.

Consumer fireworks are legal statewide under RCW 70.77 on specified dates, but sky rockets, missiles, firecrackers, and bottle rockets are banned. Cities and counties may restrict or ban fireworks entirely but cannot expand state-allowed dates or types.

Outdoor Burning

Arizona regulates open burning through ADEQ air quality rules and DFFM forestry statutes, requiring permits for most outdoor burns and prohibiting burns during no-burn declarations.

Washington's Clean Air Act (RCW 70A.15) bans outdoor burning in urban growth areas and most cities. The Department of Ecology and clean air agencies enforce statewide standards regardless of local rules.

Propane Storage

Washington adopts the International Fire Code statewide under RCW 19.27.031, including NFPA 58 standards for liquefied petroleum gas (propane). These rules govern container placement, capacity, and installation regardless of city.

Wildfire Zones

Washington adopted the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code statewide under RCW 19.27.560, effective July 1, 2023. New construction in designated WUI areas must meet ignition-resistant building, defensible space, and water supply requirements.

Concealed Carry

Arizona allows permitless concealed carry for adults 21 and older, while still issuing optional CCW permits that enable reciprocity with other states.

Washington issues concealed pistol licenses under RCW 9.41.070 on a shall-issue basis to qualified applicants, with statewide preemption preventing local concealed carry rules.

Firearms in Vehicles

Washington RCW 9.41.050 governs carrying firearms in vehicles statewide, requiring a concealed pistol license to carry a loaded handgun in a motor vehicle.

Local Firearms Preemption

Arizona broadly preempts cities, towns, and counties from regulating firearms, ammunition, components, and related accessories beyond state law.

Washington RCW 9.41.290 broadly preempts local firearm regulation, reserving authority over firearm laws to the state legislature with very limited exceptions.

Open Carry

Arizona permits open carry of firearms by adults 18 and older without a license in most public spaces, subject to limited location restrictions.

Washington allows open carry of firearms by qualified adults without a permit, with limited statutory restrictions and broad preemption barring most local open carry rules.

Food Truck Permits

Arizona Department of Health Services regulates mobile food units statewide under A.R.S. Title 36, Chapter 8 and uniform food code rules in A.A.C. Title 9, applied through county health permits.

Washington WAC 246-215 enforced under RCW 43.20 establishes the statewide retail food code requiring mobile food units including food trucks to obtain permits from local health jurisdictions and meet uniform sanitation standards.

Card Room Licensing

Washington's Gambling Commission is the only licensing authority for commercial card rooms statewide. RCW 9.46.070(2) lets the commission issue one-year licenses to food-and-drink businesses to run social card games, including house-banked games, as a commercial stimulant. RCW 9.46.0282 caps every licensed room at fifteen tables. Critically, RCW 9.46.295 hands every city and county the power to ban card rooms outright inside its own borders, license or no license.

Sports Betting Law

Arizona legalized event wagering, commonly called sports betting, in 2021 under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 5, Chapter 11. The Department of Gaming may issue no more than ten event wagering operator licenses to non-tribal applicants, Arizona pro sports teams, PGA Tour host venues, or NASCAR national-touring-race promoters, or their designees, and no more than ten to Indian tribes that have signed the current tribal-state gaming compact. Offering event wagering without one of these licenses is unlawful statewide.

Sports betting is legal in Washington only at tribal casinos operating under a class III gaming compact amended to include it, as RCW 9.46.0364 authorizes following ESHB 2638 (2020 c 127). There is no commercial sportsbook license available to anyone else, and even in-casino mobile wagering works only while the bettor is physically on tribal gaming premises, per RCW 9.46.0368.

Assessment & Dues

Under A.R.S. § 33-1807, unpaid assessments in an Arizona planned community become an automatic lien on the lot, and the association may charge late fees and interest if the declaration allows. The lien may be foreclosed like a mortgage, but only once the owner is delinquent 18 months or owes $10,000 or more.

Washington has two regimes. Communities created on or after July 1, 2018 fall under WUCIOA (RCW 64.90), whose lien carries a 6-month super-priority over first mortgages and can be foreclosed like a mortgage. Older associations use the Homeowners' Associations Act (RCW 64.38), whose lien may be foreclosed only after strict notice and dollar thresholds.

CC&R Enforcement

Arizona HOAs enforce CC&Rs, design rules, and bylaws, but A.R.S. § 33-1803 channels enforcement through a detailed violation-notice process. A member who gets a violation notice may demand, within 21 days, the specific provision violated, the date, who observed it, and how to contest, and the HOA cannot collect attorney fees until it provides this.

Washington HOAs may adopt and enforce rules and architectural standards and enforce the recorded declaration. Under WUCIOA, RCW 64.90.405 authorizes rule adoption and enforcement, while RCW 64.90.510 fixes outer limits the rules cannot cross (flags, solar, signs). Older HOAs draw the same rulemaking power from RCW 64.38.020.

Drought Landscaping Rights

Arizona does not give homeowners a general right to xeriscape, gravel, or desert landscaping over an HOA's objection; that stays governed entirely by each community's own declaration. What A.R.S. § 33-1819 grants is narrower: once a planned community's declarant control period ends, an association that already allows natural grass cannot flatly ban artificial turf on a member's lot, though it may regulate the turf's location, coverage, and quality.

This right applies only within Washington homeowners' associations governed by the Homeowners' Association Act, chapter 64.38 RCW: communities formed before July 1, 2018, excluding condominiums. Under RCW 64.38.057, governing documents cannot prohibit drought resistant landscaping, pollinator habitat including code-compliant beehives, or wildfire ignition resistant landscaping. Associations may set only reasonable placement and aesthetic rules that stop short of making these practices unreasonably costly or infeasible, and cannot fine owners for reduced lawn watering during a Department of Ecology drought order.

EV Charger Rights

Washington homeowners associations and condo boards may not prohibit or unreasonably restrict a unit owner's electric vehicle charging station installed for personal, noncommercial use within the unit's boundaries or a designated parking space. RCW 64.90.513 reaches virtually every Washington HOA and condo, including communities formed before July 1, 2018, and requires any required approval to follow a 60-day deemed-approved review process.

Lien & Foreclosure Limits

Arizona bars an association from foreclosing an assessment lien until the owner passes a dollar figure or a time period, and the trigger is not the same in every community. In a condominium, A.R.S. § 33-1256(A) allows foreclosure only once the unit owner has been and remains delinquent for one year or owes $1,200 or more, whichever occurs first, measured on the date the action is filed. In a planned community the same sentence in A.R.S. § 33-1807(A) sets a much higher bar of eighteen months or $10,000. In both, the board must first make reasonable efforts to communicate with the owner and offer a reasonable payment plan.

Washington associations do hold a super-lien. Under RCW 64.90.485(3)(a)(i) of the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, an association's lien jumps ahead of a first mortgage for six months of common expense assessments, plus up to $2,000 in foreclosure attorneys' fees if the association gave the lender 60 days' notice. Foreclosure itself is gated: the association cannot file until the owner owes the greater of three months of assessments or $2,000, until 90 days have passed since that amount accrued, until two preforeclosure notices have gone out 60 days apart, and until the board votes to foreclose that specific unit.

Rental Restriction Limits

Arizona homeowners associations cannot block a member's right to rent unless the declaration itself prohibits it or limits rental time periods. Once a unit is rented, A.R.S. § 33-1806.01 caps what the HOA can demand: only tenant names, contact information, lease dates, and vehicle plate numbers, for a fee no higher than $25 per new tenancy.

Washington condominium and HOA boards cannot cap or ban unit leasing by ordinary board rule. RCW 64.90.510(10)(c) lets a board restrict leasing only to the extent the rule mirrors institutional lenders' underwriting requirements, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac-style owner-occupancy test used to keep a project warrantable. Any broader rental cap, waitlist, minimum lease term, or ban has to be written into the recorded declaration and approved by owners holding at least 67 percent of the association's votes.

Cottage Food Operations

Arizona lets you cook for sale in your own kitchen once you register with the Department of Health Services and hold a current food handler certificate from an accredited program. A.R.S. § 36-136(I)(4)(g) exempts cottage food products made in a private home for commercial purposes from the state food establishment rules, so there is no licence, no inspection and no annual sales cap. What Arizona does impose is a packaging and labeling regime under A.R.S. § 36-932, plus separate delivery rules for anything containing dairy, meat or poultry and for anything that needs temperature control.

Washington runs a cottage food permit through the state Department of Agriculture, not through the local health district. Under RCW 69.22.030 the permit is issued for two years and costs a $125 basic hygiene inspection fee plus a $75 public health review fee and a $30 processing fee. RCW 69.22.050(1)(a) caps annual gross sales at $35,000, measured per domestic residence and not per person, and WAC 16-149-040(1) repeats that figure in the rule WSDA filed on December 11, 2023. You may sell only shelf-stable items on your permit, only directly to the eater, and never by mail, shipping, consignment, wholesale or out of state.

Home Daycare

Washington licenses family home child care providers through DCYF and preempts local zoning that would treat licensed home daycares as commercial uses requiring special permits.

Home Kitchen Operations

Arizona has no home restaurant permit. There is no microenterprise home kitchen operation licence, no meal count allowance, and nothing in A.R.S. § 36-136(I)(4) that exempts a home kitchen serving cooked-to-order meals from the state food establishment rules. The only commercial route out of a private kitchen is cottage food registration under A.R.S. Title 36, Chapter 8, Article 2, and A.R.S. § 36-932(A) makes that a packaged-goods scheme: products "must be packaged at home with an attached label." Serving plates to guests at your address, or cooking meals to order for pickup, falls outside every exemption Arizona has written.

Washington has no microenterprise home kitchen permit. WAC 246-215-08300 bars operating a food establishment without a permit from the local health jurisdiction, and the one permit exemption you can apply for, WAC 246-215-08305, expressly requires "not using any food prepared in a residential kitchen or other nonapproved facility" and limits you to ten listed foods such as popcorn, corn on the cob and cotton candy. Cooked meals from a home kitchen are lawful only where the operation falls outside the definition of "food establishment" in WAC 246-215-01115(50)(c), which carves out nonprofit bake sales, licensed family day care and adult family home kitchens, private events, potlucks, a youth beverage stand, and a two-bedroom owner-occupied bed and breakfast serving breakfast only.

Composting

Washington requires jurisdictions over 25,000 to provide organics collection and bans certain organic waste disposal under RCW 70A.205.545.

Native Plants

The Arizona Native Plant Law protects designated cacti, trees, and other species from destruction or removal without state permits, applying universally on private and public land regardless of municipal rules.

Rainwater Harvesting

Washington law expressly permits rooftop rainwater collection for onsite use without a water right permit, preempting any municipal prohibition on basic harvesting.

Weed Ordinances

RCW 17.10.140 makes every Washington landowner eradicate all Class A noxious weeds and control the spread of Class B and C weeds designated for their region. County noxious weed control boards enforce it: a certified-mail notice under RCW 17.10.170 gives at least ten days to act before the board can control the weeds itself, lien the property, and issue a civil infraction.

Golf Carts & Low-Speed Vehicles

Arizona runs two separate low-speed classes and gives neither one a local street-designation scheme. A neighborhood electric vehicle, the state's version of a federal low-speed vehicle, may not exceed 25 mph, may not be driven on a road posted above 35 mph except to cross at an intersection, and must carry a permanent notice of those restrictions in clear view of the driver under A.R.S. § 28-966. A golf cart is defined separately in A.R.S. § 28-101(37) and escapes registration only when it is used in the operation of a golf course or moved on a highway "only incidentally", so a cart used as everyday neighborhood transport has to be registered, equipped and driven by a licensed driver like any other motor vehicle. One narrow shoulder privilege exists, and it reaches only age restricted communities in unincorporated Maricopa County.

Washington splits small street-legal vehicles into three statutory classes by top speed, and the rules for each are different. A golf cart tops out at 20 mph and may use public streets only inside a golf cart zone a city or county has created by ordinance under RCW 46.08.175, on roads posted 25 mph or less. A neighborhood electric vehicle runs above 20 up to 25 mph and may use roads posted 35 mph or less statewide under RCW 46.61.725 without any local ordinance. A medium-speed electric vehicle, a class few states have, runs above 25 up to 35 mph, needs a roll cage or crush-proof body, and gets the same road access under RCW 46.61.723. NEVs and MSEVs must be registered, plated, insured and driven on a valid license; golf carts need none of those.

Construction Hours

Washington's noise code exempts temporary construction sounds during daytime hours from EDNA limits, while night construction still must comply with strict nighttime sound levels.

Decibel Limits

Industrial sources in Washington must comply with EDNA limits set by WAC 173-60, with the receiving residential zone limited to 60 dBA daytime and 50 dBA nighttime.

Dark Sky Rules

Arizona regulates outdoor lighting statewide through the Outdoor Light Control statutes, requiring shielded fixtures and limits on certain lamp types, particularly in counties hosting major astronomical observatories.

Abandoned Vehicles

Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 establishes uniform statewide procedures for abandoned vehicle reporting, towing, notice to owners, and disposal through licensed agents.

Washington's RCW 46.55 governs how abandoned vehicles are impounded, noticed, redeemed, and auctioned, providing a uniform statewide framework that local jurisdictions must follow.

EV Charging

Washington prohibits homeowner and condominium associations from banning EV charging stations and requires EV-ready parking in new construction. RCW 64.38.062 covers HOAs and RCW 64.90.513 covers condominium and WUCIOA communities.

Late Fees & Grace Periods

Under RCW 59.18.170, a Washington landlord may not charge any late fee on rent paid within five days of its due date; a fee may begin only once rent is more than five days past due. The statute sets no specific dollar cap, though some cities and counties impose stricter local limits.

Security Deposit Rules

Arizona caps security deposits at one and one-half month's rent. After the tenancy ends and the tenant requests it, a landlord has 14 days (excluding weekends and legal holidays) to return the deposit with an itemized list of deductions. Wrongful retention exposes the landlord to damages of twice the amount withheld.

Washington sets no dollar cap on residential security deposits, but it controls how they are collected and returned. A landlord may collect a deposit only with a written rental agreement and a written move-in checklist describing the unit's condition. After the tenancy ends, the landlord has 30 days to refund the deposit with an itemized statement of deductions.

Squatter's Rights & Adverse Possession

Arizona's adverse possession periods are tiered: 2 years by right of possession alone (A.R.S. § 12-522), 3 years under color of title (§ 12-523), 5 years under a recorded deed with taxes paid (§§ 12-524, 12-525), and a 10-year catch-all (§ 12-526). Possession must be open, hostile, and continuous; removal is by court action.

Washington's general adverse possession period is 10 years under RCW 4.16.020, requiring possession that is actual, open and notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous. A shorter 7-year period applies under RCW 7.28.070 when the occupant holds under good-faith color of title and pays all taxes legally assessed on the land for those seven years.

Agricultural Zoning Protection

Arizona limits local zoning power over agricultural land, protecting commercial farming activities from overly restrictive land-use regulation.

Washington's Growth Management Act under RCW 36.70A.170 requires counties and cities to designate and protect agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance through zoning.

Farm Nuisance Protection

Arizona's Right to Farm Act in ARS 3-112 protects established agricultural operations from nuisance suits when surrounding land use changes.

Insurance Requirements

A.R.S. 9-500.39 requires Arizona short-term rental operators to maintain at least $500,000 in liability insurance or rent through a marketplace providing equivalent coverage.

Washington requires short-term rental operators to maintain at least $1 million in primary liability insurance, or to operate through a platform providing equivalent coverage, under RCW 64.37.050. This statewide requirement applies regardless of local rules.

Noise Rules

A.R.S. 9-500.39 lets Arizona cities apply local noise ordinances to short-term rentals and impose escalating penalties for verified noise violations occurring on the premises.

Occupancy Limits

A.R.S. 9-500.39 lets Arizona cities cap nightly occupancy at two adults per bedroom plus additional persons, applying uniformly to short-term rentals statewide.

Taxes & Fees

Arizona requires short-term rental operators to license with the Department of Revenue and remit transaction privilege tax plus any applicable county and city transient lodging taxes statewide.

Washington imposes statewide sales tax and lodging taxes on short-term rental stays under 30 days. Operators must register with the Department of Revenue, collect applicable taxes, and remit them regardless of local jurisdiction.

Political Signs

Arizona state law preempts municipal restrictions on temporary political signs in public rights-of-way during election periods, limiting what cities and counties can prohibit or remove.

Plastic Straw Rules

Washington RCW 70A.550 limits single-use food service ware including plastic straws and utensils to upon-request distribution at restaurants and food service businesses.

Panel Permits

Arizona requires expedited residential solar permitting under SolarAPP+ adoption laws and provides statewide property tax exemptions for residential solar energy devices under A.R.S. Section 42-11054.

Washington RCW 64.38.055 and RCW 64.90.510 bar HOAs and condominium associations from prohibiting solar panels. State policy under RCW 64.04.140 encourages solar energy and authorizes solar easements. Cities may still require building and electrical permits.

Fencing & Safety Requirements

Arizona enforces a uniform statewide swimming pool enclosure law requiring barriers around residential pools, with cities and counties bound to minimum standards but allowed to adopt stricter local rules.

Washington WAC 246-260 regulates public spas and hot tubs at hotels, apartments, gyms, and HOAs, requiring permits, water testing, temperature limits, and posted bather safety warnings under RCW 70.90 statewide.

Flavored Tobacco Bans

Washington has not enacted a statewide flavored tobacco ban, leaving flavor restrictions to limited Department of Health authority and federal FDA enforcement on flavored vapor cartridges.

Radar Detector Rules

A radar detector is legal in a private vehicle anywhere in Arizona. The state's vehicle equipment article, A.R.S. sections 28-921 through 28-966, names no radar detector, laser jammer or speed measuring countermeasure of any kind, and section 28-921(B) states positively that the article does not prohibit the use of additional parts and accessories on a vehicle where the use is not inconsistent with the article. Two real limits survive. Where you stick it matters, because section 28-959.01(B) bars any object placed in or on the vehicle in a manner that obstructs or reduces the driver's clear view through the windshield. And a detector is prohibited outright in a commercial motor vehicle under 49 C.F.R. section 392.71, which Arizona enforces against commercial traffic through Title 28, chapter 14.

Nothing in Washington law restricts a radar detector in a private passenger vehicle. Chapter 46.37 RCW, the vehicle equipment chapter that fixes fog lamp mounting heights to the inch and tint reflectance to the percentage point, contains no reference to radar detectors, nor does chapter 46.61 RCW, the rules of the road, and RCW 46.37.010(3) affirmatively preserves the use of additional accessories that are not inconsistent with the chapter or with State Patrol rules. The real prohibition is for commercial motor vehicles. WAC 446-65-010(1)(s) adopts 49 C.F.R. Part 392 in its entirety for motor carriers operating in intrastate or interstate commerce, and 49 C.F.R. 392.71 bans a radar detector from being used in, or even contained in, a commercial motor vehicle.

Underglow & Auxiliary Lighting

Arizona allows a vehicle four kinds of extra forward lighting and puts a mounting-height band on each: one spot lamp, two fog lamps mounted 12 to 30 inches off the ground, two auxiliary passing lamps mounted 24 to 42 inches, and two auxiliary driving lamps mounted 16 to 42 inches. No more than four front lamps projecting a beam greater than 300 candlepower may be lit at any one time on a highway. Anything visible from directly in front of the vehicle must be amber or white, never red or red and blue, and flashing lights are barred outside a short list that covers emergency vehicles, school buses, snow removal equipment, warning lamps on a disabled or parked vehicle, and turn signals.

Washington splits its extra-lighting rules between the statute and the State Patrol's rules, and the part most drivers care about lives in the rules. RCW 46.37.180 allows up to two spot lamps, two fog lamps, two auxiliary passing lamps and two auxiliary driving lamps, each with its own mounting height, while WAC 204-21-230 bans aftermarket neon lighting devices on a vehicle in motion on a public roadway and reserves red, blue, flashing white and green lamps to named classes of vehicle. The same rule contains Washington's distinctive escape hatch: a vehicle that is not in motion and is parked on private property may use aftermarket lighting. Violating a State Patrol lighting rule is a traffic infraction under RCW 46.37.010(2).

Window Tint Limits

Arizona lets the front side windows carry film with a light transmission of thirty-three percent plus or minus three percent, so a front window measuring down to 30 percent still complies, and it sets no darkness limit at all on the side windows behind the driver or on the rear window. Every tinted pane, front and rear, is capped at a luminous reflectance of thirty-five percent plus or minus three percent, which is what rules out mirrored and heavily metallic film. On the windshield the state allows a tint strip across the topmost portion provided the bottom edge of the material sits at least twenty-nine inches above the undepressed driver's seat and the strip is not red or amber. Arizona has no periodic passenger-vehicle safety inspection, so all of this is checked at the roadside rather than at a testing station.

Washington lets you tint every window except the windshield down to 24 percent light transmission, with outward reflectance capped at 35 percent, but RCW 46.37.430(5)(a) measures that as net film screening, meaning the aftermarket film plus whatever tint the manufacturer already built into the glass. Only one sheet of film per window is allowed, and mirror finish, red, gold, yellow and black films are banned outright. The windshield takes only a transparent strip along the top edge that stops at the AS-1 line or six inches down, whichever comes first. Because Washington runs no periodic safety inspection for private cars, the rule is enforced entirely at the roadside, and the shop that installed the film faces a criminal charge while the driver faces an infraction.