The B-Card is a "restricted driver’s license" issued by the Department of Public Safety with a no-alcohol/drug restriction. The B-Card provides a repeat DUI offender with an opportunity to become relicensed after having been cancelled as inimical to public safety (IPS) following a third or subsequent impaired driving incident.

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) may cancel a person’s driver’s license when it deems that the person’s operation of a motor vehicle is inimical to public safety (IPS). This usually happens when the driver has three impaired driving incidents within ten years or four incidents on record.

Much like a DUI an impaired driving incident does not have to be criminal conviction. Either of the following is sufficient: an administrative loss of driver’s license; naturally, a criminal conviction for a DWI; or criminal vehicular homicide. And even if a DUI criminal charge is dropped or reduced to a lesser charge, the implied consent revocation alone counts as a qualified prior impaired driving incident.

The Statutes of the State of Minnesota authorize the DPS to issue a driver’s license to certain drivers, contingent upon their written agreement to certain restrictions deemed appropriate for public safety. Such a license is referred to as a restricted license. When a restricted license is issued to a driver with three or more DUIs they must absolutely abstain from alcohol and illicit drugs permanently. This restricted license is commonly referred to as a "B-Card." To be eligible for the B-Card the driver must complete chemical dependency treatment and a rehabilitation period described in law. Any violation of that no-alcohol/drug restriction, (which would even include drinking wine as part of a religious ceremony) means revocation of the B-Card, the need to complete another chemical dependency treatment and waiting the required rehabilitation period. Even worse, a violation of the no-alcohol/drug restriction while driving, even if it is not at the .08 level, involves criminal penalties as a gross misdemeanor.

Often the violation of the no-alcohol/drug restriction will be made not from a DUI arrest, but rather from a traffic stop or when the police are called to investigate a domestic situation. It is important to note that there does not even have to be an arrest or conviction for any crime for a person's B-Card to be cancelled based on a violation of the no-alcohol/drug restriction. In fact, because the right to have a driver's license is civil in nature, the Courts of the State of Minnesota have held that even when the consumption information is obtained through an unconstitutional police stop, DPS may still use it to cancel a person’s B-Card.

There are significant consequences to a B-Card cancellation, because before a person can again have a valid B-Card, they must again successfully complete chemical dependency treatment and rehabilitation. The DPS rules require the following steps in the rehabilitation process for obtaining a B-Card.

• Documented proof of alcohol/drug abstinence for a minimum period of:

                 a.        one year, for a person’s first rehabilitation;

                 b.        three years, for the person’s second rehabilitation; and

                 c.        six years, for the person’s third or subsequent rehabilitation.

For more information on the B-Card or how your specific facts and circumstances would apply, contact us for your free initial consultation.