Driving after a DUI arrest: notices, permits and restrictions

The four statutes discussed here concern the licensing process, and each names its own forum. Arkansas's statute assigns the licensing action to the Office of Driver Services. Missouri's statute provides for review of the department's determination at a hearing conducted by examiners licensed to practice law in Missouri. Idaho's statute places the hearing before a hearing officer designated by the department. New Mexico's statute sends hearings to the administrative hearings office.

Under Arkansas's statute, when the license, permit or other evidence of driving privilege seized by the arresting officer has not expired and otherwise appears valid to that officer, the officer issues a dated receipt that the statute says shall be recognized as a license. Missouri's statute provides that a license not previously surrendered may be surrendered when the hearing request is made, and its initial temporary permit depends on the record showing a valid Missouri license that has been surrendered.

The documents that matter in these examples are the notice of suspension or revocation, any receipt or temporary permit the statute authorizes, the notice of a hearing date, and the written decision. Each temporary document in these excerpts is tied to a licensing event, such as the hearing date or a final order.

A hearing request and a stay are different legal events. A request asks the licensing authority for an opportunity to be heard. A stay, where the law provides one, delays the effect of the suspension or revocation. The state examples here keep the two apart.

Arkansas's statute provides that a written hearing request "does not operate to stay the revocation, suspension, disqualification, or denial by the Office of Driver Services until the disposition of the hearing." That provision concerns the request itself. The same statute separately addresses a dated receipt and a temporary permit, which are discussed below.

Idaho's statute provides that an extension of the hearing period "shall not operate as a stay of the suspension." Missouri's statute, by contrast, allows its department to issue additional temporary permits "in order to stay the effective date of the suspension or revocation until the final order is issued following the hearing." The statute says the department "may" do this, so the provision describes a discretionary power and does not make a stay an automatic result of a request.

Missouri's statute, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 302.530, allows a person who has received a notice of suspension or revocation to request a hearing to review the department's determination. The request period is measured from receipt of that notice. If the license has not already been surrendered, it may be surrendered when the request is made.

The initial temporary permit is conditional. When the request is made, the department shall issue a temporary permit valid until the scheduled hearing date if it appears from the record that the person holds a valid driver's license issued by Missouri and that the license has been surrendered. Each condition appears in the text. Separately, the department "may later issue an additional temporary permit or permits" to stay the effective date until the final order following the hearing.

After the hearing, the department must notify the person of its decision and the reasons for it. The decision becomes final unless an appeal is filed in the circuit court of the county where the arrest occurred. The statute words that period differently in separate subsections, once from the date the notice was mailed and once from when the person is notified.

Under A.C.A. § 5-65-402, when the license, permit or other evidence of driving privilege seized by the arresting officer has not expired and otherwise appears valid to that officer, the officer shall issue a dated receipt on a form prescribed by the Office of Driver Services. The statute provides that the receipt "shall be recognized as a license" and authorizes the arrested person to operate a motor vehicle for a limited period that the statute sets.

The receipt form also serves as notice. It gives notice of a suspension, disqualification or revocation by the Office of Driver Services that takes effect after a stated period, notice of the right to a hearing, and notice of the calendar-day period for requesting one. It must list the office's phone numbers and address and explain how to request a hearing.

A separate temporary permit applies under a distinct condition. If the Office of Driver Services is unable to conduct a hearing within the period the statute sets, a temporary permit shall be issued and is valid until the date of the hearing. Mailed notices are deemed delivered on the postmark date, and refusing delivery does not constitute nonreceipt. Except as the section's notice provisions provide, the section does not apply to juveniles subject to the Arkansas Juvenile Code.

Idaho Code § 18-8002A provides an administrative hearing for a person who, after submitting to an evidentiary test, has been served with a notice of suspension and a notice of the requirement to install an ignition interlock system. The hearing covers the suspension only, not the interlock requirement, and the provision is limited to that test-submission situation.

The request must be in writing, must be received by the department within a stated number of calendar days after those notices are served, and must state the issue or issues to be raised. The date the department received the request is noted on its face.

The hearing must be held within a period measured from the date the department received the request, unless the hearing officer extends that period for good cause shown. The statute states that such an extension "shall not operate as a stay of the suspension," even if the hearing date moves beyond the extended period. Written notice of the hearing date and time is sent to the person who requested it in advance of the hearing. The department may hold hearings by telephone if each participant can take part in the entire proceeding while it is taking place.

New Mexico's statute, N.M. Stat. Ann. § 66-8-112, sends license-revocation hearings to the administrative hearings office. Within a period that runs from receipt of the notice of revocation, the person whose license or privilege to drive is revoked or denied, or that person's agent, may request a hearing. The request must be written and accompanied by a payment or a sworn indigency statement on a department form. Failure to request a hearing within that period results in forfeiture of the right to a hearing. The hearing is held in the county where the offense for which the person was arrested took place.

The administrative hearings office may postpone or continue a hearing "on its own motion or upon application from the person and for good cause shown," for no longer than a limit measured from the date of notice of revocation. Upon a continuance, the statute provides that "the department shall extend the validity of the temporary license for the period of the postponement or continuation."

That extension is tied to a postponement or continuance of the administrative hearing under this provision. It is not a rule about continuances in criminal court, and the statute's language does not by itself establish that a particular person holds a temporary license. Whether a temporary license exists in a given case, and how long it runs, are questions for a New Mexico lawyer.

The statutes above show how specific these conditions are. Arkansas requires a seized license that has not expired and otherwise appears valid to the officer. Missouri requires a valid, surrendered Missouri license. Idaho's provision covers a test-submission suspension. New Mexico's extension applies to a continued administrative hearing. None of these examples decides whether a particular person may drive today.

The notice provisions carry their own conditions. In New Mexico, the date of notice of revocation is either the date the law enforcement officer serves written notice of revocation and of the right to a hearing or, when chemical test results cannot be obtained immediately, the date the department serves notice by certified mail. That mailed notice is deemed served on the date borne by the return receipt showing delivery, refusal to accept delivery or attempted delivery at the address obtained by the officer or on file with the department. New Mexico's statute also states that if the person requests a hearing under the Administrative Hearings Office Act, the effective date of revocation is the date the administrative hearings office issues the order following that hearing. In Arkansas, a notice from the Office of Driver Services that is not personally delivered is sent by first class mail to the last known address on file with that office, and a person who receives a notice by personal delivery is asked to sign a receipt acknowledging it.

• Which notice started the license proceeding, and when was it given or received?
• Does any receipt or temporary permit in the file meet the statute's conditions?
• Does the state's law provide a stay, and if so, what triggers it?
• How does the license proceeding relate to the criminal case in that state?

Deadlines, limits and penalty ranges are set by each state’s statutes, so this page does not state them. Each state page shows them with the official source and the date they were verified — or says plainly that a figure has not been confirmed yet.