Refused a Breath Test in Corpus Christi? Implied Consent and ALR Hearings Explained

If you were arrested for DWI in Corpus Christi and refused a breath or blood test — or took one and the result came back at 0.08 or higher — your driver’s license is now facing a separate legal process from your criminal case, with its own deadline, its own hearing, and its own rules. This is the Administrative License Revocation, or ALR, process, and it operates almost entirely independently of whatever happens with the DWI charge itself. Here’s how it actually works.

Texas’s Implied Consent Law

Texas Transportation Code § 724.011 establishes what’s known as “implied consent”: by driving on Texas roads, you’ve already consented to provide a breath or blood specimen if you’re arrested for DWI and an officer requests one. This doesn’t mean you can be physically forced to blow into a breathalyzer on the spot — you can still refuse — but the law treats that refusal as having consequences, because the consent was supposedly given the moment you got behind the wheel.

This is the legal foundation for everything that follows. The State isn’t asking you to voluntarily incriminate yourself when an officer requests a specimen; under Texas law, it’s treating you as having already agreed to provide one as a condition of driving.

The Statutory Warnings Officers Must Give

Before requesting a breath or blood specimen, an officer is required to read statutory warnings — commonly delivered using the DIC-24 form — that explain the consequences of refusing versus providing a specimen, including the specific suspension periods that apply. These warnings are not a formality. Whether the warnings were properly given, and whether they accurately reflected the law, can become an issue in the ALR hearing itself. If the required warnings weren’t given correctly, that can be grounds to challenge the resulting suspension.

What Happens If You Refuse

If you refuse to provide a breath or blood specimen after being properly warned, Texas Transportation Code § 724.035 sets out the consequence: a license suspension separate from, and in addition to, anything that happens in the criminal case. This is true even if you’re never convicted of DWI — even if the charge is eventually dismissed entirely, a refusal-based suspension can still take effect unless it’s successfully challenged through the ALR process.

It’s also worth understanding that refusing a test does not mean there’s “no evidence” against you. The refusal itself can be referenced in the criminal case, and as discussed in our post on summer DWI enforcement, during “No Refusal” periods a refusal doesn’t prevent officers from obtaining a warrant for a blood draw anyway.

The 15-Day Deadline to Request an ALR Hearing

This is the single most important deadline in the entire process, and it’s covered under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 524. You have 15 days from the date of your arrest to request an ALR hearing in writing. If that request isn’t made within 15 days, the suspension takes effect automatically — there’s no hearing, no opportunity to challenge it, and no connection to whatever happens in the criminal case afterward. Missing this deadline is one of the most common and most avoidable ways people lose their license for months, on top of whatever happens with the DWI charge itself.

What an ALR Hearing Actually Decides

An ALR hearing is held before an administrative law judge through the State Office of Administrative Hearings, and it’s a narrower proceeding than a criminal trial. Generally, the issues at an ALR hearing come down to: did the officer have reasonable suspicion to stop you in the first place, did the officer have probable cause to arrest you for DWI, were you properly given the required statutory warnings, and — depending on whether you refused or took a test — did you in fact refuse, or was the test result accurate and properly obtained.

This is also one of the more underappreciated strategic tools available to a defense attorney. Because the arresting officer’s testimony at an ALR hearing happens well before the criminal case typically goes to trial, requesting the hearing gives your attorney an early, sworn look at how the officer describes the stop and arrest — which can be valuable regardless of the ALR hearing’s outcome.

Suspension Periods for Refusal vs. Test Failure

The length of suspension depends on whether you refused or took a test that failed, and on your prior history. A first-time refusal generally results in a 180-day suspension. A first-time test failure — a result of 0.08 or higher — generally results in a 90-day suspension. These periods increase substantially for prior DWI-related suspensions or convictions within the preceding years, and can extend well beyond a year for repeat situations.

Occupational Licenses: Driving During a Suspension

A license suspension doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t drive at all during that period. Texas Transportation Code provisions governing occupational driver’s licenses allow a person to petition a court for a restricted license that permits driving for essential needs — generally work, school, household duties, and similar purposes — subject to restrictions on hours and sometimes requiring an ignition interlock device. An occupational license is a separate court process from the ALR hearing itself, and addressing it early can prevent a suspension from becoming a complete inability to get to work or care for a family.

How the ALR Case and Criminal Case Relate

It’s worth being clear about something that confuses a lot of people: the ALR case and the criminal DWI case are separate proceedings, heard by different decision-makers, on different timelines, with different burdens of proof. Winning the ALR hearing doesn’t resolve the criminal case, and losing it doesn’t mean the criminal case is lost either. However, because the ALR hearing happens early and involves sworn testimony from the arresting officer, what happens at that hearing can meaningfully inform how the criminal case is approached — which is one of the reasons requesting the hearing within the 15-day window matters, even for people who assume the suspension is a foregone conclusion.

If you’ve been arrested for DWI in Corpus Christi and refused a breath or blood test, or failed one, the 15-day clock is already running. Barton & Associates offers free, confidential consultations available 24 hours a day to help you understand your options before that deadline passes. Call our Corpus Christi office at 361-800-6780.