Why You Face Both a Criminal Prosecution and an Administrative Legal Proceeding
The reason for initiation of this separate administrative action against your license is that the federal government made such actions against an accused DUI driver’s license mandatory about 30 years ago. All states now have an “implied consent” law that controls these separate civil-type actions against driving privileges and most states have a verbally-administered or a written “implied consent” advisement or BOTH. Under federal highway funding statutes, States that did not comply with passing such laws would lose federal highway money for not enacting statutes to suspend or revoke drivers’ licenses when a breath or blood test “over the limit” is given as part of a DUI arrest, OR if a person REFUSES to provide a “chemical test” after being reasonably suspected of being a DUI driver. All states have complied and passed these laws.
A “Hard” Suspension TOTALLY Takes Away Your Right to Drive — No Permit Available
Some administrative suspensions, those for REFUSALS, are HARD suspensions in Georgia, meaning that no “work permit” is available IF you lose the administrative hearing on the issue of “refusal.” This rule on refusals is applicable for ANY offender — first DUI arrestees or anyone else. This “HARD” suspension may also be applicable for “per se” (cases where you were previously arrested for DUI and submitted to testing but had a result “over the legal limit”), but only if you have had a prior per se administrative suspension entered against you for an arrest made within five (5) years of the last DUI arrest that resulted in an administrative suspension for “blowing” over the legal limit.
