When an individual is charged with a DUI/DWI offense, Nebraska's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) begins its separate process to revoke the driver's driving privileges. The DMV's Administrative License Revocation (ALR) proceeding is automatic and its timelines are rigid.
Law enforcement personnel will notify you at the time of your arrest that your license will be administratively revoked in 30 days and will provide you with a Petition to contest this administrative revocation by requesting a hearing. This ALR Petition must be completed and returned to the DMV within 10 days.
The DMV will then notify the driver by certified letter of the date and time of a telephonic hearing and appoints a hearing officer, who after listening to testimony, determines the fate of an individual's driving privileges. This hearing officer issues a written decision announcing whether the operator's license will be revoked by the DMV or if the DMV failed to prove its case against the driver.
Administrative license revocation penalties vary depending upon whether the driver refused to submit to testing and whether the driver had a prior adverse ruling in an ALR proceeding.
If a driver consented to the blood or alcohol test and it is the driver's first administrative revocation, the DMV will revoke the operator's license for 90 days. The driver may be eligible to obtain an employment driving permit (EDP)issued by the DMV after the first 30 days of this revocation. If a driver had previously refused to submit to testing and had a prior negative ALR within the last twelve years, the DMV will revoke the driver's operating privileges for 1 year and the driver cannot obtain an employment driving permit.
The employment driving permit (EDP) is valid for the remainder of the DMV's administrative license revocation period.
Nebraska state criminal laws enacted post May 2009 have expanded the usage of ignition interlock permits for DUI/DWI convictions and provide individuals with one or more prior DWI offense convictions the possibility to operate a motor vehicle on a limited basis while their license is revoked.