Case Information
*1 THEATTORNEYGENERAL PRICE DANIEL . .4TTOFlNEY GENeRAI.
January 21, 1948 Hon. Tom M. Miller Opinion No, V-479 County Attorney
Young County Re: The authority of a county Graham, Texas court to require surrender
of ‘the operator’s for transmittal to the De- partment of Public Safety, following aonviction for driving while intoxioated e Dear Sir:
You have requested an opinion of this department on the above-captioned subject and we quote from your let- ter as follows:
“In June, 1947, a man plead guilty of driving an automobile upon a public in Young County, Texas, while intexi- highway oatea and WWI fined #30 ,OO and a six mOnthaq eus- pen&on of his drivar’s by Judge The 801%; at the tire sf his 0onviction under Artfola %?
Panel Cads, dug54 ThO~ap5on held that the autama&o or defendant's suap4noion lfceese ap- plied ikaeording to Artiole 6&V%, &Wised Civil Statutaa, Section 24 s aa4 the* accordlag to $ec- tion 25 (a) of aaid Article 6gESlb, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, that it was the duty of the the defendant to surrender his opar&or’s license, and for the Clerk of this.
Court to forward to the Department of Public Safety a record of such conviction tosther with This lvss the driver’s of the defandanta etrowdingly done in this ioasea f * as county advised the Court last June,that this Attorney, was the correct procedure to follow; I have ad- vised the court at this time that this,was and is now the correct procedure to followa
*2 ” e . . Please advise this office whether or not the county court should require the sur- and have the clerk render of an operator’s [1]
Hon. TQ~ M. Yiller, page 2, V-,479
of. the court send it in together with the record of the oonvictfon.R
Pertinent to this problem, we quote Article 6687b, Sections 24 and 25, V. C. S., in part, as follows:
“Sec. 24. (a) The license of any oerson shall be’ automatically suspended upon final conviction of any of the f,ollowing offenses:
“2t Drivi,ng a motor vehicle while under the; ’ influenoe of intoxicating liquor or aarootio,drugs.* ‘“(‘b) The suspension above provided shall the first instance be for a period of six (6) months. ,. fin event any license shall be suspended under then
provision of this Section for a second time, said seoond suspension shall be for a period of one (1) ,yePf.
“Sec. 25. (a) Whenever any person is convicted of any for which this Act makes the suspension of the operator’s, opera- tar’s) of such person, the in which such conviction is had shall to it of all operators’, ~commercial operator’s, and chauffeurs * licenses then held by the person so convioted and the olerk of said court .shall, thereupon forward the same together~with a reoord of suck.cenviction to the Department, wit& (10) days from the dates of rontiH,ien. , : *”
From the clear and unambiguous language of ,the foregoing statute, it is manifest that upon co’nviction the ~offense of driving upon a public high- way while under the influence intoxicating liquor, oper8ter’a fiaense of such oonvicted is automat- ical,ly awpem#cQ aa an ineq0apebl.e oolsequemoe of, the con- vio~tieh. No further aotien, dealaration, or judgment on the part ef the court in wh~i.ch the cenvicticn is rendered is necessary to accomplish such suspension, as the license is suspended ipso facto by reason of such conviction, and the sole question remaining is that of the custody of the sw)snQea license.
‘Regarding the custod of the suspended Uoenss, rendered by this Depart- we quote from Qpinion No. --mf ment , as follows
“Section 25 directs to report *3 -.
Hon. Tom M. Miller, page 3, V-479
Department all convictions of violations of all laws regulating the operation of motor tehicles on the. highways. The purpose of these requirements is to furnish the foundation for apprcpriete action by the Department D In the instances where suspension. is (Section 24) the law recognizes that no further hearing is required for the procedural ‘due process law,,’ because the person aceused in the criminal aotion is bound to knaa, as a matte,* of law, that an automatic suspension of his driver’s license will be a consequence of his conriction, The right to the driver’s license is, tr%ed as a part of the same suit.
*The court is direated to immediately take up license and the clerk of said oourt to forward same, together with a record of, such conviction, to the Department within (10) days from the date of the conviction, It is incumbent upon the Court to the surrender of the and the clerk to forward same with the record of conviction to the Department 0 The court’s failure, however, does not affect its sus- pension.”
It is our opinion, therefore, that the county is charged with the duty of assuming the custody of the suspended upon conviction of an operator the offense of driving ~peta a public high- way while intoxicated e Section 25. It must be borae minds that the acti,on of the court in assuming the custody of the suspended lioense is not determinative of the ques- tion of the suspension of the license. Such license would be suspended regardless of the assumption of custody by for transmittal to the Department of Public Safe- ty*
In this aonnection, we wish to call attention Sec. 32 of Art. 6687b, V. C. S., as follows:
Y3ec. 32. It shall be unlawful for any person to commit any of the following acts:
” . . . i
“4. To fail or refuse to surrender Department on demand any operator’s, license which has been s or revoked as provided by
suspended, cancelled law: . * . *”
We are ‘attaching hereto a aopy of Opinion No. ,’ TV-91 rrom .whioh we have quoted, as being pertinent
your problem,
It la mandatory that the county 'oourt the surrender of an operatorls for trans- mittal to the Department of Pub110 Sarety, rollow- ing oonviction of the operator or the offense or driving ,while intoxicated. Article 6687b, Sections 24 and,25, V. C. 9.
Very truly yours, ATTOFNEY GENEF?AL OF TEXAS