The MVD Hearing After an Arizona DUI: The 15-Day Deadline Nobody Mentions

Two suspensions, two triggers

The "admin per se" suspension — 90 days — is triggered by a test result at or over the limit; the officer typically takes the license and issues a temporary permit that doubles as the suspension notice. The implied-consent suspension — 12 months — is triggered by refusing the test, whatever the outcome of the criminal case. Both take effect automatically unless a hearing is requested in time.

The 15-day deadline

The request for a hearing must reach the MVD within 15 days of the notice. Requesting it does two things: it stays the suspension until the hearing is held — you keep driving in the meantime — and it forces the State to put on evidence months before the criminal trial. Miss the deadline and the suspension simply starts; there is no late-filing forgiveness worth relying on.

What the hearing covers — and why it doubles as discovery

An administrative law judge hears a narrow set of issues: whether the officer had reasonable grounds, whether you were lawfully arrested, whether the test showed the alleged result or was refused after proper warnings. The officer testifies under oath, and your attorney cross-examines — which makes the MVD hearing the earliest sworn preview of the State’s DUI case. Testimony locked in there routinely shapes suppression motions and plea leverage in the criminal court later, and winning the hearing voids the administrative suspension itself.

Even when the suspension holds, restricted permits and ignition-interlock options can keep you driving to work — the sequencing matters and is fact-specific. This is one of the first things handled in a DUI defense; the criminal side’s penalties are in the first-offense DUI guide.