This bill amends existing law (RCW 46.44.030) to change vehicle overall length rules on public highways. It generally prohibits operating a vehicle longer than 40 feet except for listed exceptions that allow greater lengths for specific vehicle types: municipal transit vehicles, auto stages, private carrier buses, school buses, fifth-wheel travel trailers, travel trailers, and motor homes up to 46 feet; articulated auto stages up to 61 feet (excluding a bike rack up to 4 feet); auto recycling carriers manufactured before 2005 up to 42 feet. It also bars tractor‑semitrailer combinations with semitrailers longer than 53 feet and tractor combinations with two trailers whose combined trailer length exceeds 61 feet, with a separate 75‑foot overall limit on truck‑and‑trailer or log truck with stinger‑steered pole trailer combinations. The amendment creates specific exemptions and measurement rules: two trailers or semitrailers are exempt from the subsection length restriction when the total weight is 26,000 pounds or less, the trailers carry no property because they are inventory of a manufacturer, distributor, or dealer, and the total combination does not exceed 82 feet. Vehicles carrying poles, pipe, machinery, or other structural objects that cannot be dismembered for emergency public utility repair are exempt from length limits but must use adequate clearance lamps and marker lamps for night movement. Certain non‑cargo devices identified by the Washington State Department of Transportation under RCW 46.44.101 are excluded from length calculations. The bill also defines terms and how to measure a fifth‑wheel travel trailer (distance from the centermost point of the kingpin to the rearmost point), and it defines “fifth‑wheel travel trailer,” “kingpin,” and “stinger‑steered.” The change is a statutory modification of vehicle length limits and related measurement, exemption, and lighting requirements, and it references WSDOT rulemaking authority under RCW 46.44.101. The bill passed the House on February 12, 2026 (Yeas 94, Nays 0) and the Senate on March 5, 2026 (Yeas 47, Nays 1), and was first read in the House on February 9, 2026. The extracted material does not state an effective date and it is unclear whether other sections or related changes exist outside this amendment.

If enacted, the bill creates a clear default 40-foot maximum vehicle length on public highways but allows specific longer vehicles and combinations under set caps (for example municipal transit vehicles and certain RVs up to 46 feet, articulated buses up to 61 feet, and limits on semitrailers and double trailers), adds a narrow inventory exemption allowing some two‑trailer dealer/manufacturer moves up to 82 feet when light and not carrying property, and lets emergency utility loads that cannot be broken down exceed length limits if they use required night lighting and end markers. The Washington State Department of Transportation must identify certain non‑cargo devices that won’t count toward length, and the bill defines terms like fifth‑wheel travel trailer, kingpin, and stinger‑steered for measuring purposes. The people and groups most affected are commercial truckers and haulers, transit and bus operators, RV owners who tow fifth‑wheel trailers, pre‑2005 auto recycling carriers, trailer manufacturers/distributors/dealers moving inventory, and utilities performing emergency repairs. Those groups will need to check and possibly change how they configure and measure equipment, follow new lighting/marker requirements for oversized emergency loads, and may face routing or compliance costs or citation risk if measurements exceed the new caps. WSDOT will have new rulemaking work to specify excluded devices; the bill text does not state an effective date, so the timing for when these changes must be followed is unclear.