What Happens at an ADOT Hearing in Arizona? ARS 28-1385

What Happens at an ADOT Hearing in Arizona?

That is the whole hearing in one paragraph, and it is worth reading twice, because the ADOT hearing is the part of a DUI case most people give away without realizing what it was. It is not a court date. It is a civil proceeding run by the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Executive Hearing Office about one thing only: your driving privilege. Below is how you end up with one, the 30-day deadline that decides whether you get it at all, exactly what the judge is allowed to consider, what the hearing looks like minute to minute, the possible outcomes, and why defense lawyers request it even in cases they expect to lose.

Which ADOT Hearing Are You Facing: Admin Per Se or Refusal?

Two statutes generate almost every ADOT hearing after a DUI stop, and they carry different suspensions:

• Admin per se, A.R.S. § 28-1385: you were arrested for DUI and a breath or blood test showed .08 or more (.04 in a commercial vehicle or while driving for hire or a rideshare service), or a drug or its metabolite without a valid prescription. The suspension is 90 consecutive days (§ 28-1385(H)), reducible to 30 days with no driving plus 60 days restricted under § 28-1385(I) if no one was seriously hurt, you have no DUI conviction in the prior 84 months, and you complete alcohol screening;
• Implied consent refusal, A.R.S. § 28-1321: you were arrested and refused the test the officer designated. The suspension is 12 months, or 2 years for a second refusal within 84 months (§ 28-1321(G)(3)).

Either way the officer serves an order of suspension at the arrest, takes your license, and hands you a 30-day temporary permit (§ 28-1385(F); § 28-1321(D)). The order is effective 30 days after it is served. If the blood result was not available that night, the order comes by mail from ADOT when the lab result arrives (§ 28-1385(G)). For the criminal side of the same night, see whether you go to jail for a DUI.

How Do You Request the Hearing, and What Is the Deadline?

You must request the hearing, in writing or online, so that ADOT receives it within 30 days of the date on the order or the mailed notice; otherwise the order of suspension becomes final (§ 28-1385(G)(2)(c); § 28-1321(G)(2)). The forms come stapled to the order. For a refusal case, ADOT will not accept the request unless the Arizona license was surrendered or certified lost (§ 28-1321(H)(2)). There is no extension for “I didn’t know” and no second chance after day 30. A timely request stays the suspension until the hearing is decided, and ADOT issues temporary permits that keep you driving in the meantime (§ 28-1385(L); § 28-1321(J)). Requesting the hearing is therefore also the way you keep your license for the next one to three months.

What Does the Judge Actually Decide at an ADOT Hearing?

The scope is fixed by statute and it is narrow. The administrative law judge does not decide whether you were guilty of DUI, whether the stop was fair, or whether you need your license for work. In an admin per se hearing, § 28-1385(M) limits the issues to whether:

• the officer had reasonable grounds to believe you were driving or in actual physical control while impaired or on drugs;
• you were placed under arrest for a DUI-related offense;
• a test showed .08 or more (or .04 commercial or for-hire), or a drug or metabolite without a prescription;
• the testing method was valid and reliable; and
• the result was accurately evaluated.

In a refusal hearing, § 28-1321(K) limits the issues to whether the officer had reasonable grounds, whether you were arrested, whether you refused, and whether you were informed of the consequences of refusing. Anything outside those lists, including the suppression arguments that win criminal cases, is not on the table, though the facts that support those arguments often come out anyway.

What Happens at the Hearing Itself?

Hearings are conducted under A.R.S. § 28-3306 and must be set within 60 days of the request; they may be held in person, by telephone, or by videoconference (§ 28-1321(I); § 28-3306(D)). In practice most are held by phone or video. An administrative law judge from ADOT’s Executive Hearing Office runs it, swears in witnesses, and rules on subpoenas (§ 28-3306(E)). The arresting officer is the State’s case: the judge reviews the certified report and the officer testifies under oath to the stop, the arrest, and the test, and your lawyer cross-examines. You may testify, but you do not have to, and in most cases defense attorneys keep the driver off the record because anything said is sworn testimony available in the criminal case. A typical hearing runs twenty minutes to an hour. If the officer was subpoenaed and does not appear, the State usually cannot meet its burden, which is why the subpoena is issued in nearly every case.

What Are the Possible Outcomes of an ADOT Hearing?

• Suspension voided. ADOT finds an element unproven. The order is set aside, your license is returned, and under § 28-1385(Q) the ruling is not admissible in the criminal case either way;
• Suspension sustained. It takes effect 30 days after written notice, and ADOT may extend your temporary permit to that date (§ 28-1385(O); § 28-1321(L)). Admin per se: 90 days, or 30 hard days plus 60 restricted if you qualify under subsection (I). Refusal: 12 months or 2 years, with a special interlock restricted license available after screening on a first refusal (§ 28-1321(P));
• Summary review instead of a hearing. Under § 28-1385(P) you can submit a written explanation for a paper review with no hearing; it rarely succeeds and gives up the officer’s testimony;
• Judicial review. A sustained order can be taken to Superior Court within 30 days under § 28-3317 and § 28-1321(M), heard on an expedited basis.

Reinstatement after any of these suspensions requires proof of completed alcohol or drug screening (§ 28-1385(H)), and a later criminal conviction carries its own interlock requirement; see whether you can wait out an ignition interlock and how DUI license suspension works.

Why Request the ADOT Hearing Even If You Expect to Lose?

Because it is the only place in an Arizona DUI case where the arresting officer answers questions under oath before the criminal trial, usually within two months of the arrest, on a transcript you can order. Defense attorneys use the hearing to lock in the officer’s account of the stop, the field sobriety tests, the twenty-minute observation period, the breath machine, and the blood draw, then hold the criminal case to that story. The hearing also keeps you driving on temporary permits for the weeks it takes to schedule and decide, and a meaningful share of suspensions are voided outright on officer no-shows, defective reports, and testing-procedure problems. Giving up the hearing gives up all three.

What Happens If You Do Nothing?

The order becomes final on day 30 and the suspension starts automatically: 90 days for admin per se, 12 months for a refusal. The 30-day temporary permit expires the same day. Driving after that is driving on a suspended license, and reinstatement still requires screening, fees, and proof of financial responsibility. Nothing about ignoring the notice makes it smaller. Our guide to stopping a license suspension after a DUI covers the first-week checklist, and what happens after a refused breath test covers the refusal track.

How Tamou Law Group Handles ADOT Hearings

We request the hearing in every DUI case unless there is a specific reason not to, subpoena the officer, and treat the hearing as sworn discovery for the criminal case as much as a fight for the license. We prepare the toxicology and procedure challenges that fit the five statutory issues, keep the driver off the record, and time the interlock-restricted-license decision so nothing is waived by accident. Members of the National College for DUI Defense, we handle the ADOT side and the court side as one case.

Related guides: what happens at an ADOT hearing for ARS 28-1321, refusing a breathalyzer in Arizona, can you refuse a blood draw, the MVD point system, Phoenix DUI defense, and our Arizona DUI charges hub. Call 623-321-4699, 24/7.