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Operating while suspended (OWS) and operating after revocation (OAR) 

The Wisconsin State Statute s.343 and Act 25 are in Adobe PDF format. 

The 2005 State Budget, Act 25 (2.7 MB), contains changes concerning first offense OAR charges. The change is effective with first offense OAR violations occurring on or after July 27, 2005.

Under the previous law, all OAR charges were criminal offenses.

Effective July 27, 2005, first offense OAR may be either criminal or civil, depending on why the person has a revoked status. If the revoked status is due to an Operating While Under the Influence (OWI) type conviction listed under s.343.307(2) (573 KB) Wis. Stats., the charge of first offense OAR is criminal. If the status is revoked for other reasons, the charge of first offense OAR is civil. Second and subsequent offenses of OAR are criminal.

The Department of Transportation suggests the following steps in determining if a first offense charge of OAR is civil or criminal:

1. Scan the driver record for prior OAR convictions with violation dates in the past 5 years. If one or more prior OAR convictions are present, the new charge of OAR is criminal.

If no OAR convictions with violation dates within the past 5 years are present, go to step 2.

2. Locate the latest, most recent reinstatement, susterm entry on the driver record.

3. Scan the entries on the driver record that were added after the latest, most recent reinstatement, susterm entry to determine the reason for the revoked status. If the record does not have a reinstatement, susterm entry, check the entire record to determine the reason for the revoked status.

4. If the revoked status is based on any of the following charge codes, the new charge of first offense OAR is a criminal charge:

OWI, PAC, CWI, HWI, IC, CIC, HIC, OII, CII, HII, OCS, CCS, HCS, GBH, CBH, HBH, NHI, CHI, HHI, CAD, HAD, CAH, HAH, CA, HCA, CAI, HAI.

5. If the revoked status is based on other reasons, such as convictions for FSA, AEO, OWS, or for NCI, NCP NCA, etc., the new charge of first offense OAR is civil.

There is no longer a violation of occupational (VOO), since s.343.10(8) (573 KB) has been rewritten. Persons who are stopped and found to be in violation of restrictions on an occupational license should be cited as follows:

• If the restriction is an "occupational" restriction, such as time or place of travel, check the status of the operating privilege (suspended or revoked), and cite under s.343.44(1)(a) (OWS), (573 KB) or s.343.44(1)(b) (OAR) (573 KB). You cannot cite under s.343.10(8) (VOO) (573 KB).
• If the restriction carried over from the driver’s regular license to the occupational license, such as "eyeglasses required" or "dual outside mirrors required," cite under s.343.43(1)(d) (573 KB), as you would a driver with a regular license.

• E-mail driverinformation.dmv@dot.state.wi.us
• Call (608) 266-2261

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Driver Information Section, driverinformation.dmv@dot.state.wi.us
Last modified: November 10, 2009