License Reinstatement.
The Secretary of State is required to revoke your driver's license if you are convicted of driving under the influence (DUI, DWI or drunk driving). After being revoked, you may only obtain driving relief through the Secretary of State Department of Administrative Hearings.
You are very unlikely to obtain a license or restricted driving permit merely by providing the minimum documents to the Secretary of State, promising never to drink and drive again, claiming to have "learned my lesson" and describing the hardship that not having a license has caused you. The Secretary of State Hearing Officer looks at all applications for reinstatement with a skeptical eye.
The Secretary of State's rules are the same for a restricted driving permit (work permit or hardship license) as they are for a full license. He will not ease up on any of the requirements, regardless of the relief you request and the severity of your hardship.
Hearing Procedures
In order to obtain a formal hearing, you must make a written request to the Secretary of State. About two weeks after you make your request, the Secretary of State will mail you a hearing notice, advising you of the time and date of your hearing.
The Secretary of State must give you a hearing date that is no more than 90 days beyond the date of your request. Fortunately, the hearings are usually set approximately 4-6 weeks out.
A hearing officer is assigned to hear your case and to summarize, in a written report, your testimony and your documents. You will not receive a decision the day of your hearing; it may take as long as 90 days for the report to be prepared.
If the decision is a denial, the report explains the reasons for the denial. The report will instruct you to resolve the issues that formed the basis of the denial.
The report becomes part of the record at the next hearing. If, at the next, hearing, you fail to address the issues that were mentioned in the denial order, the Secretary of State will deny you again. You can only have a formal hearing once every 3 months, so every denial sets you that much further back in time.
If a lawyer does not represent you, you can expect the Secretary of State's attorney to ask you a minimum of 100 questions, and the hearing officer will also question you. You must be prepared to answer detailed questions about your past, including particular information concerning all your DUI arrests and specific information about your current and past alcohol and drug use.
You will be questioned at length concerning the information contained in the paperwork from your evaluator. Keep in mind that the Secretary of State has heard every story there is to tell.
As a result, the hearing officer and the Secretary of State's lawyer will view you as just another person trying to take an easy ride through the system. When you come into the hearing with a knowledgeable driver's license lawyer they see all the time, they realize you are serious about the task at hand.
You need a lawyer that has regularly handled these hearings and has been successful.
Formal and Informal Hearings
There are two types of hearings, informal and formal. If you have had two or more DUI arrests, you are usually required to have a formal hearing.
In order to have a formal hearing, someone must make a written request to the Secretary of State. In response, the Secretary of State will provide written notice of the date and time of the hearing, usually about 6 weeks after the request was submitted.
Formal hearings are tape-recorded, and the decision comes in the form of a detailed order that is several pages in length. Besides the hearing officer, you and me, a lawyer for the Secretary of State will also be in the hearing room.
You have the right to appeal a formal hearing decision to the circuit court. You are entitled to have a formal hearing once every 3 months.
At times, even though someone is eligible for an informal hearing, I will recommend that he attend a formal hearing. If I make that recommendation, it is usually because the case is complicated in some manner.
The Various Classification Levels and What They Mean for You
There are 3 primary classification levels. Two of the levels have sub-classifications.
Level I applies to someone with only one DUI arrest. If you have two or more total DUI arrests, you cannot be Level I. The only requirement for someone who is classified Level I is completion of a 10-hour Driver Risk Education (DRE) course.
However, even if you only have one DUI arrest, you cannot be Level I if you either refused the breath test or took the breath test and registered between .15 and .19. Your classification in that case must be at least Level II moderate risk.
If you are classified Level II moderate risk, you must complete the DRE course. In addition, you must complete at least 12 hours of early intervention alcohol counseling.
The next classification is Level II significant risk. Anybody, regardless of the number of DUI arrests, who registers .20 or higher on the blood or chemical breath test (Breathalyzer) must be classified at least Level II significant risk.
A second DUI arrest will result in your being classified as Level II significant risk if in the past you were convicted of DUI, or were placed on court supervision for DUI, or were arrested for a DUI that was later reduced to reckless driving, or even if you were acquitted (found not guilty or the charge was dismissed) of DUI but were, as a result of the DUI for which you were acquitted, suspended for failing or refusing the breath or blood test. These rules apply regardless of the age of the first arrest or the time between the arrests.
If you are classified Level II significant risk, you must complete DRE. In addition, you must undergo at least 20 hours of alcohol treatment and, in most cases, complete aftercare.
There are two Level III high-risk classifications. If you have 3 or more symptoms of dependency, you must be classified as Level III alcohol dependent, regardless of the number of DUI arrests.
Types of Restricted Driving Permits (RDP)
It is highly likely that the first type of driving relief you will receive is a restricted driving permit (RDP). The Secretary of State has the legal authority to issue an RDP to allow you to drive to and from work, as well as drive on the job once you are at your place of employment.
The Secretary of State can also issue an RDP so that you can attend AA meetings and regularly scheduled medical appointments for you and family members. If you are a student, you may request an educational driving permit to drive to school and between classes.
The Secretary of State also has the authority to issue day care permits. These allow household members to take and pick up their children from day care.
You may not request full reinstatement until you have used the permit for at least 9 months. After having your RDP for 9 months you must have another formal hearing to request your full license, unless you are subject to a five year revocation.
How I Will Help You
My overall success rate at obtaining some sort of driving relief (a permit or full reinstatement) at formal hearings averages more than 90%.
Having said that, there are definite benefits a lawyer such as myself who concentrates in driver's license hearings would provide you. For instances, having the minimum required paperwork does not come close to guaranteeing that the Secretary of State will be satisfied, after hearing your testimony, that your evaluation and other paperwork is adequate.
Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID)
BAIID (Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device) is a machine that is installed in your vehicle. You must blow into a mouthpiece before your vehicle will start. The machine analyzes your breath and records the results.
The Secretary of State analyzes those results to determine if you consumed alcohol before starting your vehicle. In addition, the machine will require you to take tests while you are driving down the road (rolling test) in order to determine if you consumed any alcohol after starting your vehicle.
If you have been arrested more than once for DUI, you will probably be required to have a BAIID. Most people required to have a formal hearing are subject to the BAIID program.
In most cases, the BAIID is required only for individuals who are granted an RDP rather than full reinstatement. However, if you have been convicted of DUI on 2 or more occasions (not simply arrested, but actually convicted and had your license revoked), you are a multiple BAIID offender and must have the BAIID RDP for five years.
Furthermore, a multiple BAIID offender must have the BAIID on every vehicle that is titled in his name, either solely or with someone else, such as a spouse or child. My advice to multiple BAIID offenders whose name is on more than one title is to remove your name, which is a perfectly legal, legitimate and recognized means of avoiding having to install the device on every vehicle.
There are costs associated with the BAIID, all of which are your responsibility. The Secretary of State collects a BAIID administration fee up front. The BAIID servicing agent (oftentimes a mechanic or filling station) charges to install and remove the machine. The BAIID rules also require you to have the machine read and calibrated by the servicing agent on a periodic basis, something for which the servicing agent will charge you.
There are work vehicle exceptions to the BAIID requirement. If you are required to drive a work vehicle on the job and other employees also drive that vehicle, you will probably only have to install the BAIID on your personal vehicle.
SR-22 High Risk Insurance
Another requirement is that you obtain SR-22 insurance, also known as high-risk insurance. It is not necessary that you have the insurance in place in order to proceed with a hearing. You must carry the SR-22 insurance for 36 months. You may purchase the insurance at any time, even if you do not own a car or have a license or permit.
How Suspensions and Revocations Differ Suspensions
The Secretary of State will suspend your license following a DUI arrest if you refused to take a chemical test, or registered .08 or higher after taking the test. The suspension that results from a failure or a refusal is known as a Statutory Summary Suspension (SSS).
The SSS will be in effect for 6, 12 or 36 months as discussed in the next topic ("Length of Chemical Test Suspension"). Provided that there are no other holds on your license, at the end of the suspension time, you are free to drive upon satisfying some minor requirements for the Secretary of State and upon payment of the reinstatement fee.
Revocations
For a first DUI conviction, the revocation period runs for a minimum of one year. If there is a second DUI conviction within 20 years of the first conviction, the second revocation will be for a minimum of 5 years.
For a third conviction, the revocation is for a minimum of 10 years. If you have four or more DUI convictions , any one of which resulted from an arrest that was made after January 1, 1999, then as of January 1, 2016, driving relief is available under these conditions. .
The length of the revocation represents the minimum period of time you will be revoked. The end of the 1, 5 or 10 years means nothing more than that you are entitled to request reinstatement of your driver's license if there is no SSS still in effect.
You should not interpret this right to request reinstatement as meaning you will automatically receive a permit or be reinstated. You must first undergo the hearing process with the Secretary of State that is described earlier in this article.
Therefore, do not act under the mistaken impression that if you are convicted of DUI, you will be revoked for a year and then automatically be able to obtain a license or permit from the Secretary of State. A permit, let alone driver's license reinstatement after a DUI revocation, is anything but automatic.
Sometimes there is a confusing interplay between an SSS and a DUI revocation. You may be revoked for 12 months. At the same time, you may be suspended for 3 years. Only once the suspension ends are you entitled to request reinstatement of your driving privileges.
During the SSS, you may request a permit from the Secretary of State. However, you cannot request reinstatement during the revocation disqualification period. While the revocation window is still in effect, in order to receive an RDP, you must prove "undue hardship", discussed later in this article.
Length of Chemical Test Suspension
If you refused or failed the breath test offered to you at the jail or police station (the "chemical test"), your license will be suspended. The length of the suspension depends upon whether you took or refused the test and whether you are a "first offender".
First Offender
For purposes of determining the length of the suspension for the most recent DUI arrest, if you have not been arrested for DUI in the previous 5 years, you are considered a first offender, even if there are other DUIs that are older than 5 years. A first offender who takes and fails the chemical test will be suspended for 6 months. A first offender who refuses to take the chemical test will be suspended for 12 months.
Non-First Offender
If you had a DUI arrest within the previous 5 years, and if for the most recent DUI you failed the chemical test, your license will be suspended for 12 months. If you had a DUI arrest within the previous 5 years, and if for the most recent DUI you refused the chemical test, your license will be suspended for 3 years.
In determining whether or not you are a first offender, a previous DUI arrest within the previous 5 years that resulted in dismissal of the DUI but entry of a breath test suspension on your record prevents you from being a first offender if you refused the test for the previous DUI. Only if you took the test for the previous DUI following a trial and were found not guilty of the previous DUI would you qualify as a first offender.
Eligibility for Work Permit - Monitoring Device Driving Permit
A Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) is available only to first offenders, as defined earlier in this article. A first offender can obtain an MDDP to drive anywhere, anytime, for any reason.
An MDDP is not an option if the first offender:
1. Has an otherwise invalid driver's license (thus, a conviction resulting from the underlying DUI would invalidate the MDDP).
2. Was charged with a DUI that resulted in death or great bodily harm.
3. Has a previous conviction for reckless homicide.
4. Is less than 18 years of age.
In exchange for the MDDP, the permitee must agree to install and pay for a BAIID, which was discussed earlier in this article. It is a machine that registers breath alcohol content prior to starting the vehicle. During rolling retests, the user must also blow at random intervals in order for the vehicle to remain operable. The results of those breath samples are stored on computer chips and downloaded to the Secretary of State. The BAIID results are furnished to the Secretary of State, whose office monitors compliance with the program and conducts hearings on alleged violations. Violations include:
BAC of .05 or more
Failing a running retest or failing to retest
Removing the BAIID
Tampering with the BAIID
At least 10 unsuccessful starts in 30 days
5 or more unsuccessful starts in 24 hours
Failing to take the device to the installer for the purpose of obtaining readings.