New Minnesota DUI License Laws

The Minnesota statutes for DUI license revocations are about to get much harsher. Under the new law, which seems to give great preference to the use of the ignition interlock device, the license revocation penalties will increase substantially and the drivers, especially those with multiple DUIs will have to use an ignition interlock device, or the alternative will be a very extended revocation period of 2, 3, 4 or 6 years. Any restricted license that will be issued will require the driver to have an ignition interlock device. On the positive side the wait times to obtain a restricted license with the ignition device have been eliminated and unless the license revocation is for criminal vehicular homicide or injury, in which case the wait time is one year, the normal waiting period will be for 15 days.

Also of note is that the driver’s license revocation penalties increase at twice the BAC legal limit or .16 and not at .20 as it was before. However for purposes of criminal charges, in order to be charged with an aggravated factor, the BAC continues to remain at .20.

Here’s the chart of the new penalties and the old ones next to them for comparison purposes.

TEST REFUSAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES

	New Rule	Old Rule
First violation	1 year revocation	Same
One prior within 10 years, or two priors	2 year revocation	1 year revocation
Two priors within 10 years, or three priors	3 year revocation	1 year revocation
Three priors within 10 years	4 year revocation	1 year revocation
Four priors	6 year revocation	New

TEST REFUSAL CRIMINAL PENALTIES

	New Rule	Old Rule
First violation	90 day revocation	Same
One prior within 10 years, or two priors	2 year revocation	1 year revocation
Two priors within 10 years, or three priors	3 year revocation	1 year revocation
Three priors within 10 years	4 year revocation	1 year revocation
Four priors	6 year revocation	New R

TEST FAILURE ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS

	New Rules	Old Rule
First violation .08-.15 BAC	90 days /180 if under 21 years old	Same
First violation >.15	1 year	Was 6 months at >.19BAC
One prior within 10 years, or two priors .08-.15 BAC	1 year revocation	Was 6 months
One prior within 10 years, or two priors >15 BAC	2 year revocation	Was 1 year at > .19BAC
Two priors within 10 years, or three priors	3 year revocation	Was 6-12 months
Three priors within 10 years	4 year revocation	Was 12 months
Four priors	6 year revocation	New

TEST FAILURE CRIMINAL SANCTIONS

	New Rules	Difference with the Old Rule
First violation .08-.15 BAC	30 days /180 if under 21 years old	Same
First violation >.15	1 year	Was 6 months at >.19BAC
One prior within 10 years, or two priors .08-.15 BAC	1 year revocation	Was 6 months
One prior within 10 years, or two priors >15 BAC	2 year revocation	Was 1 year at > .19BAC
Two priors within 10 years, or three priors	3 year revocation	Was 6-12 months
Three priors within 10 years	4 year revocation	Was 12 months
Four priors	6 year revocation	New

The reason that there are both criminal and administrative driver’s license sanctions is that sometimes, but not very often, the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety does not invoke the implied consent law, thus the administrative sanctions do not apply and the driver can suffer the license consequences through his criminal conviction. Other times, most cases, the implied consent law is invoked and the sanctions are done administratively, thus should the criminal case be dismissed or the driver be found not guilty he/she would have already suffered the license consequences administratively.

This law will not go into effect until July of 2011, presumably to allow the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety to get in place the ignition interlock program.