2009 Iowa Code
Title 8 - Transportation
Subtitle 2 - Vehicles
CHAPTER 321J - OPERATING WHILE INTOXICATED
321J.13 - HEARING ON REVOCATION -- APPEAL.

        321J.13  HEARING ON REVOCATION -- APPEAL.
         1.  Notice of revocation of a person's noncommercial driver's
      license or operating privilege served pursuant to section 321J.9 or
      321J.12 shall include a form accompanied by a preaddressed envelope
      on which the person served may indicate by a checkmark if the person
      only wishes to request a temporary restricted license after the
      mandatory ineligibility period for issuance of a temporary restricted
      license has ended, or if the person wishes a hearing to contest the
      revocation.  The form shall clearly state on its face that the form
      must be completed and returned within ten days of receipt or the
      person's right to a hearing to contest the revocation is foreclosed.
      The form shall also be accompanied by a statement of the operation of
      and the person's rights under this chapter.
         2.  The department shall grant the person an opportunity to be
      heard within forty-five days of receipt of a request for a hearing if
      the request is made not later than ten days after receipt of notice
      of revocation served pursuant to section 321J.9 or 321J.12.  The
      hearing shall be before the department in the county where the
      alleged events occurred, unless the director and the person agree
      that the hearing may be held in some other county, or the hearing may
      be held by telephone conference at the discretion of the agency
      conducting the hearing.  The hearing may be recorded and its scope
      shall be limited to the issues of whether a peace officer had
      reasonable grounds to believe that the person was operating a motor
      vehicle in violation of section 321J.2 or 321J.2A and one or more of
      the following:
         a.  Whether the person refused to submit to the test or tests.

         b.  Whether a test was administered and the test results
      indicated an alcohol concentration equal to or in excess of the level
      prohibited under section 321J.2 or 321J.2A.
         c.  Whether a test was administered and the test results
      indicated the presence of alcohol, a controlled substance or other
      drug, or a combination of alcohol and another drug, in violation of
      section 321J.2.
         3.  After the hearing the department shall order that the
      revocation be either rescinded or sustained.  Upon receipt of the
      decision of the department to sustain a revocation, the person
      contesting the revocation has ten days to file a request for review
      of the decision by the director.  The director or the director's
      designee shall review the decision within thirty days and shall
      either rescind or sustain the revocation or order a new hearing.  If
      the director orders a new hearing, the department shall grant the
      person a new hearing within twenty days of the director's order.
         4.  The department shall stay the revocation of a person's
      driver's license or operating privilege for the period that the
      person is contesting the revocation under this section or section
      321J.14 if it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that the
      new evidence is material and that there were valid reasons for
      failure to present it in the contested case proceeding before the
      department.  However, a stay shall not be granted for violations of
      section 321J.2A.
         5.  If the department fails to comply with the time limitations of
      this section regarding granting a hearing, review by the director or
      the director's designee, or granting a new hearing, and if the
      request for a hearing or review by the director was properly made
      under this section, the revocation of the driver's license or
      operating privilege of the person who made the request for a hearing
      or review shall be rescinded.  This subsection shall not apply in
      those cases in which a continuance to the hearing has been granted at
      the request of either the person who requested the hearing or the
      peace officer who requested or administered the chemical test.
         6. a.  The department shall grant a request for a hearing to
      rescind the revocation if the person whose motor vehicle license or
      operating privilege has been or is being revoked under section 321J.9
      or 321J.12 submits a petition containing information relating to the
      discovery of new evidence that provides grounds for rescission of the
      revocation.
         b.  The person shall prevail at the hearing if, in the
      criminal action on the charge of violation of section 321J.2 or
      321J.2A resulting from the same circumstances that resulted in the
      administrative revocation being challenged, the court held one of the
      following:
         (1)  That the peace officer did not have reasonable grounds to
      believe that a violation of section 321J.2 or 321J.2A had occurred to
      support a request for or to administer a chemical test.
         (2)  That the chemical test was otherwise inadmissible or invalid.

         c.  Such a holding by the court in the criminal action is
      binding on the department, and the department shall rescind the
      revocation.  If the offense for which the revocation was imposed was
      committed while the person was operating a noncommercial motor
      vehicle and holding a commercial driver's license and the department
      disqualified the person from operating a commercial motor vehicle
      under section 321.208, subsection 2, paragraph "a" or "b", as
      a result of the revocation, the department shall also rescind the
      disqualification.  

         Section History: Recent Form

         86 Acts, ch 1220, §13; 87 Acts, ch 148, §1; 88 Acts, ch 1109, §23;
      88 Acts, ch 1214, §2; 89 Acts, ch 83, § 46; 95 Acts, ch 48, §18; 97
      Acts, ch 104, §30, 31; 98 Acts, ch 1073, §9; 98 Acts, ch 1138, §21;
      99 Acts, ch 13, §22, 29; 2000 Acts, ch 1133, §16; 2009 Acts, ch 130,
      §15, 18
         Referred to in §321A.17 

         Footnotes

         2009 amendments to subsection 6, paragraphs a and c, take effect
      May 22, 2009, and apply retroactively to January 1, 2005, for
      disqualifications in effect on or after that date; 2009 Acts, ch 130,
      §18