Ohio BMV to refund disabled veterans after license plate error

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced on Thursday it will be refunding thousands of disabled veterans who paid for a specialty license plate.

The bureau recently discovered it did not implement a change in Ohio law that allows certain disabled veterans to receive up to two free disabled veteran license plates and/or military license plates. Although the amount of each refund will vary based on local fees and taxes, the average refund will be $60.

"We are undertaking an internal review to determine why the legislative change wasn’t adopted in a timely manner to ensure that this will not happen in the future," said Charlie Norman, Ohio BMV Registrar. 

Nearly 2,000 veterans were charged for these licenses platers since the law went into effect in October 2019. The BMV said it is currently in the process of contacting all veterans who were charged, with refunds processed within the next month.

The law applies to veterans with a service-connected disability who are declared 100% disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The law does not apply to personalized specialty disabled and military license plates.

View more information on veteran license plates here.