duistatelaws.com Arizona is the state where a first offense has a jail floor written into the statute and the statute says it cannot be probated away. Ten consecutive days at the ordinary limit, thirty at 0.15, forty-five at 0.20 — and the reading alone decides which, before anyone looks at the driving.
Key takeaways
- The ordinary limit is 0.08, measured within two hours of driving, and the statute makes it a presumption rather than the only route.
- Two thresholds sit above it: extreme DUI at 0.15 and super extreme at 0.20, each a separate offense under section 28-1382.
- Jail on a first offense is at least 10 consecutive days, and the statute bars probation or a suspended sentence unless the whole term is served.
- The prior-offense window is 84 months and it is measured by the dates the offenses were committed, not by the order the cases were resolved.
- Which courthouse you go to is decided by whose city limits you were inside when you were stopped.
- Arizona has no expungement. Section 13-905 offers a set aside, which leaves the conviction in place.
to demand a hearing from Arizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division, counted from the notice you were served. A.R.S. § 28-1321(G), (H). This proceeding is separate from the criminal charge, it is decided by MVD rather than by a judge, and nothing about it happens automatically.
The same diagram as a table
| State | Days | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 7 | C.R.S. § 42-2-126(6)(a) |
| California | 10 | Cal. Veh. Code § 13558(b) |
| Florida | 10 | Fla. Stat. § 322.2615(1)(b)3. |
| Texas | 15 | Tex. Transp. Code §§ 524.031, 724.041 |
| Arizona | 30 | A.R.S. § 28-1321(G), (H) |
| Georgia | 30 | O.C.G.A. § 40-5-67.1(g)(1) |
Three statutes, not one
Arizona splits impaired driving across three consecutive sections and which one you are charged under is most of the case. Section 28-1381 is the ordinary offense. Section 28-1382 is extreme DUI, which exists at two levels: 0.15 or more but less than 0.20, and 0.20 or more. Section 28-1383 is aggravated DUI, which is a felony.
Section 28-1381(A) has two limbs. Paragraph (1) covers driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs if the person is impaired to the slightest degree — a standard lower than most states use, and one that needs no test result. Paragraph (2) is the per se offense at 0.08 within two hours of driving. Subsection (G) then makes 0.08 a presumption rather than a conclusion, and expressly says a reading between 0.05 and 0.08 gives rise to no presumption either way but may still be weighed with other evidence.
The aggravating routes in section 28-1383(A) are not about the reading at all. They are: driving while the license is suspended, cancelled, revoked or refused, or while restricted because of an earlier DUI; a third violation within 84 months; and driving with a passenger under fifteen. Those make the offense a class 4 felony, heard in Superior Court rather than in a city or justice court, and they can attach to a first-ever drink-driving arrest.
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Jail set by the reading, before anyone reads the file
Arizona's sentencing provisions are written as floors rather than ranges, and each floor is followed by the same clause: the person “is not eligible for probation or suspension of execution of sentence unless the entire sentence is served”. Section 28-1382 then raises the floor twice on the strength of the number alone — not on the driving, not on the record, not on whether anyone was endangered.
The same diagram as a table
| Offense | Confinement | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| First offense | at least 10 consecutive days | § 28-1381(I) |
| Extreme DUI, 0.15 to 0.20 | at least 30 consecutive days | § 28-1382(D) |
| Super extreme DUI, 0.20 or more | at least 45 consecutive days | § 28-1382(D)(1) |
| Second offense within 84 months | at least 90 days, 30 of them consecutive | § 28-1381(K) |
| Aggravated DUI | set by the felony sentencing provisions | § 28-1383(L)(1) |
| Offense | Level | Confinement | Fine | License | Also required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First offense | Class 1 misdemeanor § 28-1381(I) | at least 10 consecutive days no probation or suspended sentence unless the whole term is served | at least $250 § 28-1381(I)(2) | Interlock ordered on conviction § 28-3319 | $500 prison fund and $500 public safety assessments |
| Extreme DUI, 0.15 to 0.20 | Class 1 misdemeanor § 28-1382(D) | at least 30 consecutive days the floor triples on the strength of the reading alone | at least $250 § 28-1382(D)(2) | Interlock ordered on conviction § 28-3319 | $250 abatement plus $1,000 and $1,000 assessments |
| Super extreme DUI, 0.20 or more | Class 1 misdemeanor § 28-1382(D)(1) | at least 45 consecutive days same offense class, a longer mandatory floor | at least $500 § 28-1382(D)(2) | Interlock ordered on conviction § 28-3319 | $250 abatement plus $1,000 and $1,000 assessments |
| Second offense within 84 months | Class 1 misdemeanor § 28-1381(K) | at least 90 days, 30 of them consecutive the same section revokes the license for a year | at least $500 § 28-1381(K)(2) | 1 year revocation § 28-1381(K)(4) | $1,250 and $1,250 assessments |
| Aggravated DUI | Class 4 felony § 28-1383(L)(1) | set by the felony sentencing provisions driving on a suspended license, a third offense in 84 months, or a passenger under 15 | set by the felony sentencing provisions § 28-1383 | Revocation § 28-1383 | Heard in Superior Court, not a city court |
The fines look small next to other states. They are not the bill. Section 28-1381(I) adds a $500 prison construction and operations assessment and a $500 public safety equipment assessment on top of a first-offense fine of at least $250, and section 28-1382 raises both to $1,000 and adds a further $250 to the DUI abatement fund. On a second offense the two assessments become $1,250 each. The statute is explicit that these assessments are not subject to surcharge, which means they are stated in full rather than multiplied afterwards — but they are still mandatory, and they are larger than the fine they sit on top of.
Every conviction involving intoxicating liquor also carries an interlock requirement imposed by the department on report of the conviction, under section 28-3319, and the court may extend it beyond the statutory term. The device attaches to any vehicle the person operates, not only to a vehicle they own.
The MVD case, and the thirty days that do two jobs
Arizona's administrative suspension runs on a thirty-day fuse that is easy to misread because the same number appears three times. Under section 28-1385, an officer who has an affidavit and a test result at or above 0.08 serves an order of suspension that is “effective thirty days after the date that the order is served”, hands over a temporary driving permit valid for thirty days, and has thirty days to file the certified report with the department.
The request for a hearing runs on the same clock: sections 28-1321(G) and (H) require the department to receive the written or online request within thirty days of the notice, and say that the order becomes final if it does not. A timely request stays the suspension until the hearing is held, and the department has sixty days from receipt to set it.
The suspension that follows is at least ninety consecutive days under section 28-1385(H), and the department may only reinstate after alcohol or drug screening has been completed. Refusing the test is handled under section 28-1321(B) and costs more: twelve months for a first refusal, two years for a second within 84 months.
The same diagram as a table
| Step | Criminal case — decided by a court | License case — decided by the state licensing agency |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrest and booking, hour 0 | Notice of suspension served, day 0 |
| 2 | Charge filed by the prosecutor | Deadline to demand a hearing, frequently 7 to 30 days |
| 3 | First court setting, on a date the court picks | Hearing held if the request was filed — the suspension is stayed until the judge rules |
| 4 | One or more pretrial settings | Suspension takes effect automatically with no hearing |
| 5 | Trial, plea or dismissal | — |
| Clock | Weeks to months. No filing deadline runs against the driver. | Counted in days from the notice, and fixed by statute. |
| What happened | First time | With a prior | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Failed the test | at least 90 days | — | A.R.S. § 28-1385(H) |
| Refused the test | 12 months | 2 years | A.R.S. § 28-1321(B) |
One detail is worth keeping in view because it is the thing that turns an ordinary case into a felony. Section 28-1383(A)(1) makes it aggravated DUI to commit a DUI while the license is suspended, revoked or restricted as a result of an earlier DUI or a section 28-1385 order. The administrative suspension is not a separate, lesser world. Driving during it is the single most common route from a misdemeanor to a class 4 felony in this state.
Eighty-four months, counted by the date of the offense
Arizona's window is 84 months — seven years — and section 28-1383(B) is unusually precise about how to count it. “The dates of the commission of the offenses are the determining factor,” it says, “regardless of the sequence in which the offenses were committed.” So it does not matter which case was resolved first, or which conviction was entered first. What matters is when each offense happened.
Two exclusions extend the window in practice. The same subsection stops the clock for time the person spent on absconder status while on probation, and for time incarcerated in any state, federal, county or city facility. An 84-month window is therefore not 84 calendar months for someone who served a sentence inside it.
The subsection also says a third or subsequent violation does not include a conviction for an offense “arising out of the same series of acts”, which is the provision that stops a single incident producing two priors.
Interlock, and the deferral nobody mentions
Section 28-3319 sets the device term and section 28-3319(H) contains a provision that is rarely described anywhere: the department shall defer the remainder of a twelve-month term, starting from the later of six months after installation or the completion of the listed requirements, where the person has met the conditions — including not having attempted to operate the vehicle at 0.08 or more two or more times during the restriction. The deferral is permanent unless there is a new arrest during it.
| Situation | Term | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| First conviction involving liquor | 12 months | § 28-3319(D)(1) |
| Second or subsequent within 84 months | 12 months | § 28-3319(D)(1)(b) |
| Super extreme with a prior | 24 months | § 28-3319(D)(2)(a) |
There is no expungement in Arizona
What Arizona has is a set aside under A.R.S. section 13-905. The court, on application, sets aside the judgment of guilt, dismisses the accusation or information, and releases the person from the penalties and disabilities resulting from the conviction. The conviction itself remains on the record and remains visible.
That is a materially weaker remedy than sealing, and it is worth being precise about, because advertising in this state uses the word expungement freely. Arizona did add a sealing statute at section 13-911, but a set aside and a sealing are separate applications with separate eligibility rules, and neither erases the underlying event. For license purposes it changes nothing at all: the department's record of the suspension and of the interlock requirement sits in a different file governed by title 28.
What an Arizona DUI lawyer is actually working with
Mandatory consecutive days that the statute forbids the judge to probate away, a jail floor set by a number, and a felony route that opens the moment somebody drives during a suspension. Arizona gives a sentencing judge less room than almost any state here, and that pushes the work earlier.
Because the floor is fixed by the reading, the questions that actually move an Arizona case are about the reading: whether the two-hour relation-back in section 28-1381(A)(2) is satisfied, how the sample was taken and held, and whether the instrument's records support the number. A case that moves from 0.15 to below it moves from thirty consecutive days to ten. That is a larger swing than most sentencing arguments are worth.
The other early question is jurisdictional and it is peculiar to this state. Which court hears the case is decided by whose city limits the stop happened inside, and the prosecuting office changes with it. That is covered on the Phoenix page, because in the Phoenix metro it is the difference between four or five different courthouses for the same stretch of road.
Where the case is actually heard
Common questions about Arizona DUI law
How much jail time is mandatory for a first Arizona DUI?
At least ten consecutive days under A.R.S. section 28-1381(I)(1), and the same paragraph says the person is not eligible for probation or suspension of execution of sentence unless the entire sentence is served. At 0.15 or more, section 28-1382(D)(1) raises it to thirty consecutive days; at 0.20 or more, to forty-five.
What is extreme DUI in Arizona?
A separate offense under section 28-1382, committed by driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more within two hours of driving. The section sets two levels: 0.15 or more but less than 0.20, and 0.20 or more, which practitioners call super extreme. Each has its own mandatory jail floor and its own fine and assessments.
How long do I have to request an MVD hearing in Arizona?
Thirty days. Sections 28-1321(G) and (H) require the department to receive a written or online request within thirty days of the date of the notice, after which the order of suspension becomes final. A timely request stays the suspension until a hearing is held, and the department has sixty days to set it.
How far back does Arizona count prior DUIs?
Eighty-four months. Section 28-1383(B) says the dates the offenses were committed are the determining factor regardless of the sequence in which they were committed, and excludes time spent on absconder status or incarcerated from the count. A conviction for an offense arising out of the same series of acts does not count as a separate prior.
When does an Arizona DUI become a felony?
Under section 28-1383(A), when it is committed while the license is suspended, cancelled, revoked or refused or while restricted because of an earlier DUI; when it is a third violation within 84 months; or when a passenger under fifteen was in the vehicle. Those are class 4 felonies under subsection (L)(1) and they go to Superior Court.
Can an Arizona DUI be expunged?
No. Arizona provides a set aside under section 13-905, in which the court sets aside the judgment of guilt and releases the person from the resulting penalties and disabilities. The conviction stays on the record. A separate sealing statute exists at section 13-911 with its own eligibility rules, and neither remedy touches the department's license record under title 28.
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More for Arizona
- Phoenix and Maricopa County — which court hears the case, and what the first weeks look like on the ground
- How long it stays on your record — the three separate records a single arrest creates
- Expungement, sealing and set aside — which of the three, if any, exists in Arizona
- Refusing the test — what implied consent costs here against what it buys
- SR-22 filing requirements in Arizona — in preparation
- Ignition interlock providers and costs in Arizona — what the device costs and who installs it
Sources
- A.R.S. § 28-1381(A)(2) — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 28-1382(A) — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 28-1321(G), (H) — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 28-1385(H) — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 28-3319(D) — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 28-1383(B) — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 13-905 — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 22-402(B) — read in force 2026
- A.R.S. § 22-301(A)(1) — read in force 2026
Each entry names the section that carries the figure and the document that was actually opened to read it. Where the two differ, the state’s own publication is linked as well. Statutes change; check the linked text before relying on a number from any website, including this one.