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DUI Laws By State

Drunk Driving Laws

Last Updated: October 2015

All states define driving with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above 0.08% as a crime, but specific laws and penalties vary substantially from state to state.

42 states, the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands have administrative license suspension (ALS) on the first offense. ALS allows law enforcement to confiscate a driver's license for a period of time if he/she fails a chemical test. Most of these states offer limited driving privileges (such as to/from work).

All states have some type of igintion ignition law, in wich judges require all or some convicted drunk drivers to install interlocks in their cars to analyze their breath and disable the engine if alcohol is detected. 20 states and 4 California counties have made ignition interlocks mandatory or highly incentivized for all convicted drunk drivers, even first-time offenders.

Federal law mandates that states adopt open container and repeat offender laws meeting specific requirements. Otherwise, a portion of a state's surface transportation funding is transferred to the state DOT or State Highway Safety Office.

Alcohol exclusion laws allow insurance companies to deny payment for treatment of drunk drivers' injuries, but they have limited doctors' abilities to diagnose alcohol problems and recommend treatment.

State	Inc. Penalty for High BAC	Admin. License Susp. on 1st Offense	Limited Driving Privileges During Susp.	Ignition Interlocks	Vehicle and License Plate Sanctions	Open Container Laws*	Repeat Offender Laws*	Alcohol Exclusion Laws Limiting Treatment
						*Meeting Federal Requirements
Alabama	.15	90 days		Mandatory for repeat convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
Alaska	.15 (at judges' disc.)	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Vehicle impoundment			Yes
Arizona	.15	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Immobilization or impoundment	Yes		Yes
Arkansas	.15	6 months	Yes	Mandatory for all convictions	Vehicle confiscation		Yes	Yes
California	.15	4 months	After 30 days	Discretionary Mandatory for all convictions in Alameda, Los Angeles, Tulare and Sacramento counties (pilot project)	Impoundment, vehicle confiscation	Yes		Yes
Colorado	.17	3 months	Yes	Highly incentivized for all convictions		Yes	Yes
Connecticut	.16	90 days	Yes	Mandatory for all convictions			Yes
Delaware	.16	3 months		Mandatory for all convictions (eff. 2/2015)	Vehicle sanction and license plate impoundment		Yes	Yes
District of Columbia	.20 and .25	2-90 days or until disposition	Yes	Discretionary		Yes	Yes
Florida	.20	6 months for DUI	After 30 days	Mandatory for high BAC (>.15) convictions	Impoundment, vehicle forfeiture	Yes	Yes	Yes
		12 months for refusal	After 90 days
Georgia	.15	1 year	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hawaii	.15	3 months	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
Idaho	.20	90 days	After 30 days	Discretionary		Yes	Yes	Yes
Illinois	.16	6 months	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Impoundment, vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes
Indiana	.15	180 days	After 30 days	Discretionary	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes
Iowa	.15	180 days	After 30 days	Discretionary		Yes	Yes
Kansas	.15	30 days		Mandatory for all convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
Kentucky	.18	30 - 120 days	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (>.15) and repeat convictions (eff. 6/24/15)	Impoundment	Yes	Yes	Yes
Louisiana 1	.15 and .20	See footnote		Mandatory for all convictions	Vehicle confiscation			Yes
Maine	.15	90 days	Yes	Highly incentivized for all convictions	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes
Maryland	.15	45 days	Yes, under certain circumstances	Mandatory for high BAC (> 0.15) convictions		Yes	Yes
Massachusetts	.20 (applies to ages 17-21)	90 days	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Michigan 2	.17	See footnote	After 45 days	Mandatory for high BAC convictions, restricted driving conditions	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Minnesota	.20	90 days	After 15 days	Mandatory for high BAC and repeat convictions	Impoundment, vehicle confiscation, special plates/markings	Yes		Yes
Mississippi		90 days		Mandatory for all convictions	Impoundment, vehicle confiscation		Yes	Yes
Missouri	.15	90 days	After 0 days w/ interlock use (restricted) After 30 days(restricted)	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Vehicle forfeiture or impoundment (cities w/ 100,000+ allowed to enact ordinance)		Yes	Yes
Montana	.16			Mandatory for repeat convictions	Impoundment, vehicle confiscation	Yes		Yes
Nebraska	.15	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Vehicle immobilization, continuous alcohol monitoring	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nevada	.18	90 days	After 45 days	Discretionary		Yes	Yes
New Hampshire	.16	6 months		Mandatory for high BAC convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
New Jersey	.10			Mandatory for high BAC (>.15) and repeat convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
New Mexico	.16 (w/ mand. jail on all offenses)	<21: 1 yr.; >21: 6 mo.	Immediately w/ Ignition Interlock	Mandatory for all convictions	Immobilization of vehicle for driving while revoked	Yes		Yes
New York	.18	Yes	Yes	Mandatory for all convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
North Carolina	.15	30 days	After 10 days	Mandatory for high BAC (>.15) and repeat convictions	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes
North Dakota	.18	91 days	After 30 days	Discretionary	Vehicle confiscation, license plate removal	Yes		Yes
Ohio	.17	90 days	After 15 days	Discretionary	Impoundment, vehicle confiscation or immobilization, restricted plates	Yes		Yes
Oklahoma	.15	180 days	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (>.15), repeat convictions, and refusals		Yes	Yes	Yes
Oregon	.15	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions and diversions		Yes	Yes
Pennsylvania 3	.16		See footnote	Mandatory for repeat convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
Rhode Island	.10 and .15			Judicial discretion on 2rd or subsequent conviction	Judicial discretion on 3rd or subsequent conviction	Yes
South Carolina	.15	1 month (for >.15 BAC)	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions and for first-time offenders convicted of having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15% or higher	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes	Yes
South Dakota 4	.17	See footnote	Yes	Discretionary		Yes
Tennessee	.20			Mandatory for all convictions	Vehicle confiscation		Yes	Yes
Texas	.15	90 days if .08 or greater; 180 days for refusal	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Vehicle confiscation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Utah	.16	120 days		Mandatory for all convictions	Impoundment	Yes	Yes	Yes
Vermont		90 days		Discretionary	Impoundment, vehicle confiscation	Yes		Yes
Virginia	.15 and .20	7 days		Mandatory for all convictions	Vehicle confiscation		Yes	Yes
Washington	.15	90 days	With an ignition interlock driver’s license	Mandatory for all convictions	Mandatory tow and 12 hour impound	Yes
West Virginia	.15	6 months	After 30 days	Mandatory for high BAC (>.15) and repeat convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
Wisconsin	.17, .20 and .25	6 months	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (>.15) and repeat convictions		Yes	Yes	Yes
Wyoming	.15	90 days	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (>.15) and repeat convictions				Yes
Total States	48 + D.C., 1 Terr.	42 + D.C., 2 Terr.	36 + D.C., 1 Terr.	Mandatory For All (20) High BAC (4) Repeat (8) High BAC & Repeat (8) Disc.: 10 + D.C.	Varies	31 + 3 Terr.	26 + D.C., 3 Terr.	37