1. Notice of revocation of a person's motor vehicle license or operating privilege served pursuant to section 321J.9 or 321J.12 shall include a form accompanied by a preaddressed envelope on which the person served may indicate by a checkmark if the person only wishes to request a temporary restricted license after the mandatory ineligibility period for issuance of a temporary restricted license has ended, or if the person wishes a hearing to contest the revocation. The form shall clearly state on its face that the form must be completed and returned within ten days of receipt or the person's right to a hearing to contest the revocation is foreclosed. The form shall also be accompanied by a statement of the operation of and the person's rights under this chapter.
2. The department shall grant the person an opportunity to be heard within forty-five days of receipt of a request for a hearing if the request is made not later than ten days after receipt of notice of revocation served pursuant to section 321J.9 or 321J.12. The hearing shall be before the department in the county where the alleged events occurred, unless the director and the person agree that the hearing may be held in some other county, or the hearing may be held by telephone conference at the discretion of the agency conducting the hearing. The hearing may be recorded and its scope shall be limited to the issues of whether a peace officer had reasonable grounds to believe that the person was operating a motor vehicle in violation of section 321J.2 or section 321J.2A and either of the following:
a. Whether the person refused to submit to the test or tests.
b. Whether a test was administered and the test results indicated an alcohol concentration as defined in section 321J.1 of .10 or more or whether a test was administered and the test results indicated an alcohol concentration as defined in section 321J.1 of .02 or more pursuant to section 321J.2A.
3. After the hearing the department shall order that the revocation be either rescinded or sustained. Upon receipt of the decision of the department to sustain a revocation, the person contesting the revocation has ten days to file a request for review of the decision by the director. The director or the director's designee shall review the decision within fifteen days and shall either rescind or sustain the revocation or order a new hearing. If the director orders a new hearing, the department shall grant the person a new hearing within twenty days of the director's order.
4. A person whose motor vehicle license or operating privilege has been or is being revoked under section 321J.9 or 321J.12 may reopen a department hearing on the revocation if the person submits a petition stating that new evidence has been discovered which provides grounds for rescission of the revocation, or prevail at the hearing to rescind the revocation, if the person submits a petition stating that a criminal action on a charge of a violation of section 321J.2 filed as a result of the same circumstances which resulted in the revocation has resulted in a decision in which the court has held that the peace officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of section 321J.2 or 321J.2A had occurred to support a request for or to administer a chemical test or which has held the chemical test to be otherwise inadmissible or invalid. Such a decision by the court is binding on the department and the department shall rescind the revocation.
5. The department shall stay the revocation of a person's motor vehicle license or operating privilege for the period that the person is contesting the revocation under this section or section 321J.14 if it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that the new evidence is material and that there were valid reasons for failure to present it in the contested case proceeding before the department. However, a stay shall not be granted for violations of section 321J.2A.
6. If the department fails to comply with the time limitations of this section regarding granting a hearing, review by the director or the director's designee, or granting a new hearing, and if the request for a hearing or review by the director was properly made under this section, the revocation of the motor vehicle license or operating privilege of the person who made the request for a hearing or review shall be rescinded. This subsection shall not apply in those cases in which a continuance to the hearing has been granted at the request of either the person who requested the hearing or the peace officer who requested or administered the chemical test.
86 Acts, ch 1220, §13; 87 Acts, ch 148, §1; 88 Acts, ch 1109, §23; 88 Acts, ch 1214, §2; 89 Acts, ch 83, § 46; 95 Acts, ch 48, §18
Iowa General Assembly
Search: Iowa Code 1997
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