Administrative License Revocation
The 15 Day ALR Deadline
A Texas DWI arrest starts two cases. The one most people never hear about until it is too late is the civil action against their driver license, and it runs on a 15 day clock.
Requesting the hearing in time does two things at once. It stops the suspension from taking effect while the case is pending, and it puts the arresting officer under oath months before the criminal case gets anywhere near the same questions.
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15 days
and the clock has already started
When the deadline actually starts
The request must be made within 15 days of notice. Where you failed a breath test the authority is Transportation Code section 524.031; where you refused, section 724.041(a) sets the same window. Either way the hearing is held before the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
If your case involved a blood draw you may never have been handed a notice at all. The Department of Public Safety mails it once results come back, notice is presumed received five days after mailing under section 524.013(b), and the practical deadline becomes 20 days from the date of mailing.
For the specimen request that can start the refusal branch of this license case, see the Texas breath-or-blood refusal guide.
What a timely request does, and what silence does
Do nothing and the suspension takes effect on the fortieth day after notice, automatically, with no one reviewing whether the stop was lawful. That is sections 524.021 and 724.035(c) working exactly as written.
File in time and the suspension is stayed until an administrative law judge decides the case. You keep driving in the meantime. That alone is usually worth the filing, but it is not the main reason I do it.
The hearing is the earliest point at which the arresting officer can be put under oath and questioned about the stop. It functions as discovery in a case where discovery is otherwise months away, and the answers given there are on the record whatever happens afterward. A criminal case is shaped by what the officer says when nobody has yet had a chance to test it, and this is that chance.
What the ALR hearing decides
Section 724.042 limits the hearing to a short list of questions. It is not a trial on whether you were intoxicated, and understanding the difference matters.
The hearing record may include sworn officer testimony and the documents used to support the suspension. The offense report, sworn administrative report, DIC-24 statutory warning, notice of suspension, test records, and refusal documentation can be compared with what the officer says under oath. The issues in a failure case are identified in Transportation Code section 524.035, while section 724.042 governs a refusal hearing. That comparison can expose missing facts or inconsistent accounts and create a record that informs later analysis of the stop, arrest, specimen request, and testing evidence without turning the ALR hearing into the criminal trial.
Reasonable suspicion and probable cause
Whether there was a lawful basis to stop you and then to arrest you. This is where a short observed distance before a downtown stop, or a vague description of driving behavior, gets examined.
Whether you were lawfully arrested
The arrest itself has to hold up. What the officer did between the stop and the arrest, and what the video shows of it, is squarely in scope.
Whether a specimen was requested
The State has to show the request was properly made, which brings in the statutory warning and how it was given.
Whether you refused
In a refusal case, whether a refusal actually occurred as the statute defines it. Refusal is admissible against you at trial under section 724.061, so what happened here carries forward.
How long a suspension runs
The length depends on whether you failed or refused, and on whether you have a prior alcohol or drug related enforcement contact in the previous ten years. That phrase is broader than it sounds: under section 524.001(3) a prior ALR suspension counts as a contact even if it never produced a conviction.
Texas ALR suspension lengths
| Situation | First occurrence | With a prior contact in 10 years |
|---|---|---|
| Failed a test, 21 or over | 90 days | 1 year |
| Refused a specimen, 21 or over | 180 days | 2 years |
| Driver under 21, any detectable amount | 60 days | 120 days, then 180 |
| Suspension on conviction (separate) | 90 days to 1 year | Longer on a repeat |
Two things people get wrong here. The under 21 tiers are keyed to prior convictions rather than the adult enforcement contact test, and juvenile adjudications and deferred adjudications both count toward them. And the 90 day figure that circulates online is the adult first failure number, not a minor's.
An ALR suspension also cannot be probated. Sections 524.021(b) and 724.045 close that door, which is why the hearing is the point of leverage rather than the sentencing that follows.
If the deadline has already passed
Missing the window is common and it is not the end of driving. An occupational license can restore limited driving, and the waiting periods that used to apply were repealed by House Bill 291 effective September 1, 2023. Drivers under an interlock restriction are exempt from the time, route and purpose limits entirely.
Reinstatement carries a fee of $125 under section 724.046 once the suspension period ends. A commercial license is never covered by an occupational license, though a CDL holder can obtain one for a personal vehicle.
One quirk worth knowing: the ALR case is independent of the criminal case under section 724.048, but an acquittal does require DPS to rescind a refusal based suspension under subsection (c). The two tracks are separate without being entirely sealed off from each other.
If you still have time
Call before the fifteenth day. The filing is a written demand to DPS. Nobody at the jail makes it for you and the court does not make it either.
If you do not
An occupational license is the route back to driving, and the old waiting periods are gone.
Related pages
ALR hearing questions
What happens if I do nothing?
Your suspension takes effect on the fortieth day after notice, automatically. No one reviews whether the stop was lawful and no hearing is held.
Does requesting a hearing keep me driving?
Yes. A timely request stays the suspension until an administrative law judge rules, so you continue driving while the case is pending.
Is the ALR hearing the same as my criminal case?
No. It is civil, it is run by DPS through the State Office of Administrative Hearings, and section 724.048 makes it independent of the criminal case. It also moves much faster.
I had a blood test and never got a notice. Am I too late?
Probably not. In blood cases DPS mails the notice once results come back, and the deadline is 20 days from mailing. If you have moved, check that DPS has an address that reaches you.
Can the suspension be probated?
No. Sections 524.021(b) and 724.045 prohibit probating an ALR suspension, which is part of why the hearing itself matters so much.
Does refusing help me?
It carries a longer suspension, 180 days rather than 90 on a first occurrence, and the refusal is admissible against you at trial under section 724.061. Since 2021 police can also obtain a warrant and take blood over a refusal.