In 2019 the Arizona Legislature passed a new law which now requires those convicted of Arizona DUI Alcohol to complete alcohol counseling prior to fully reinstating their Arizona driver’s license or privilege to drive. The law, 2019 Arizona Session Laws, Chap. 309, implements this requirement by stating that if an interlock is required by conviction, as all Alcohol DUI convictions do, the period for the interlock requirement does not start to run until the driver has completed alcohol screening, education, counseling and treatment and has otherwise complied with the requirements for reinstatement. This is a change from past law which Substance Abuse Screening but completion of counseling to reinstate an Arizona driver’s license or privilege to drive. This new requirement applies to DUI cases which occurred on or after August 27, 2019.1.
The completion of the Education, Treatment and Counseling Requirement (” the Requirement”) applies to those convicted of DUI Alcohol because those drivers cannot fully reinstate their Arizona driver’s license or privilege to drive until they comply with the interlock requirements, those drivers now cannot comply with the interlock requirements and have the time period required for the interlock to start until they complete the Requirement.
In its 2019 Legislative Summary, 2 the Department of Transportation contended that this requirement also applies to those convicted of DUI Drugs however it is hard to see how because the new Requirement only prevents a driver from fully reinstating by stating they cannot begin the interlock time period (which is required for reinstatement) until the Requirement is completed. Since those convicted of DUI Drugs do not need to install an interlock it is not clear how not completing the Requirement would prevent the driver from fully reinstating.
This new requirement for DUI Alcohol drivers may cause real problems for drivers. For example, if a DUI Alcohol driver’s license is administratively suspended for 90 days prior to going to trial and the case is guilty at trial then they will have to complete the Requirement immediately. For example, if their license was suspended effectively March 1st, they would otherwise be eligible to reinstate in 90 days (May 30th). If they went to trial on May 15th and the verdict was guilty in order to fully reinstate on May 30th they would have to have complete the Requirement prior to May 30th. Since that could be as many as 54 hours of education, counseling, and treatment it would not be possible to complete the Requirement as of May 30th and therefore they would not be able to reinstate their license or privilege to drive on May 30th. On a first offense DUI a driver is generally eligible for a restricted permit for 60 days after the first 30 days of no driving34 however the Arizona Department of Transportation has taken the position that the 60-day restricted permit ends at the end of the 90 days, which in my example would be on May 30th. Therefore if a person has not reinstated their Arizona driver’s license or privilege to drive by the end of the 90 day suspension period (May 30th) the restricted permit would end and the driver would not be able to drive at all for any reason. Since the driver would not be able to drive at all it would be more difficult to complete the Requirement to say nothing about being more difficult to get to work.
Footnotes
- 2019 Arizona Department of Transportation Legislative Summary, p. 3
- 2019 Arizona Department of Transportation Legislative Summary, p. 15
- 28 A.R.S. § 1385.G
- 28 A.R.S. § 1387.E
