2022 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 5 - Drivers’ Licenses
Article 3 - Cancellation, Suspension, and Revocation of Licenses
§ 40-5-61. Surrender and Return of License; Time Served Under Such Sentence Credited Toward Fulfillment of Period of Revocation or Suspension

1. The department, upon canceling, suspending, or revoking a license, shall require that such license shall be surrendered to the department and be processed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the department.
2. Any person whose license has been canceled, suspended, or revoked shall immediately return his license to the department.
3. It shall be unlawful to refuse to deliver upon a legal demand any driver’s license which has been canceled, suspended, or revoked.
4. Except as provided in Code Section 40-5-62, when the revocation period expires, the department shall reinstate the license to the driver within 30 days.
5. 1. For the purpose of making any determination under this Code section relating to the return of revoked or suspended licenses to drivers, the period of revocation or suspension shall begin on the date the license is surrendered to the department or a court of competent jurisdiction under any provision of this chapter or on the date that the department processes the citation or conviction, whichever date shall first occur.
   2. If the license is lost, or for any other reason surrender to the department is impossible, the period of revocation or suspension may begin on the date set forth in a sworn affidavit setting forth the date and reasons for such impossibility, if the department shall have sufficient evidence to believe that the date set forth in such affidavit is true; in the absence of such evidence, the date of receipt of such affidavit by the department shall be controlling.
   3. Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection, a period of revocation or suspension may begin on the date a person is sentenced for an offense that also results in the revocation or suspension of his or her driver’s license or driving privileges.
6. When a person serving a sentence has his or her driver’s license or driving privileges concurrently revoked or suspended with the imposition of his or her sentence, the department shall credit the time served under such sentence toward the fulfillment of the period of revocation or suspension.

History. Code 1933, § 68B-313, enacted by Ga. L. 1975, p. 1008, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 1668, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 628, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 4; Ga. L. 1993, p. 940, § 3; Ga. L. 2000, p. 951, § 5-23; Ga. L. 2004, p. 471, § 4; Ga. L. 2016, p. 443, § 4-3/SB 367.

The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, designated the existing provisions of subsection (e) as paragraphs (e)(1) and (e)(2); added paragraph (e)(3); and added subsection (f).

Law reviews.

For article on the effect on receiving government-issued licenses after a conviction based on a nolo contendere plea, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 723 (1979).

For article on the 2016 amendment of this Code section, see 33 Georgia St. U. L. Rev. 139 (2016).