HF 635 (LSB 2548HV (1) 91)

HOUSE FILE 635

BY  COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY

(SUCCESSOR TO HF 457)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the driver’s license revocation effective date following an operating-while-intoxicated violation or refusal to test.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 321J.9, subsection 4, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  The effective date of revocation shall be ten twenty days after the department has mailed notice of revocation to the person by first class mail, notwithstanding chapter 17A. The peace officer who requested or directed the administration of a chemical test may, on behalf of the department, serve immediate notice of intention to revoke and of revocation on a person who refuses to permit chemical testing. If the peace officer serves immediate notice, the peace officer shall take the Iowa license or permit of the driver, if any, and issue a temporary license effective for ten twenty days. The peace officer shall immediately send the person’s license to the department along with the officer’s certificate indicating the person’s refusal to submit to chemical testing.
    Sec. 2.  Section 321J.12, subsections 3 and 4, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows:
   3.  The effective date of the revocation shall be ten twenty days after the department has mailed notice of revocation to the person by first class mail, notwithstanding chapter 17A. The peace officer who requested or directed the administration of the chemical test may, on behalf of the department, serve immediate notice of revocation on a person whose test results indicated the presence of a controlled substance or other drug, or an alcohol concentration equal to or in excess of the level prohibited by section 321J.2, or a combination of alcohol and another controlled substance or drug in violation of section 321J.2.
   4.  If the peace officer serves that immediate notice, the peace officer shall take the person’s Iowa license or permit, if any, and issue a temporary license valid only for ten twenty days. The peace officer shall immediately send the person’s driver’s license to the department along with the officer’s certificate indicating that the test results indicated the presence of a controlled substance or other drug, or an alcohol concentration equal to or in excess of the level prohibited by section 321J.2.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Under current law, a person who operates a motor vehicle in a manner that gives reasonable grounds to believe that the person is operating while intoxicated (OWI) is deemed to have given consent to the withdrawal of specimens of the person’s blood, breath, or urine and to a chemical test of the specimens to determine the alcohol concentration or presence of a controlled substance or other drugs. The department of transportation (DOT) is required to revoke the driver’s license of a person if the results of a test indicate an OWI violation or if the person refuses to provide a specimen for testing. The revocation begins 10 days after notice of the revocation is mailed by the DOT or immediately served by the peace officer who requested chemical testing. If a peace officer serves immediate notice of the revocation, the officer must take the driver’s license and issue a temporary driver’s license valid for 10 days.
   This bill extends the period before an OWI driver’s license revocation begins, and extends the validity of a temporary driver’s license issued following an OWI revocation, from 10 days to 20 days after notice is served.
   The bill does not amend the 10-day periods for a person to request a hearing or challenge the decision of the DOT director on an OWI driver’s license revocation.