If you hold a commercial driver license and you were arrested for OWI in Wisconsin, the criminal case is not the emergency. The license is.
The short version, before the detail:
- A first-offense OWI conviction disqualifies you from operating a commercial motor vehicle for one year, even though Wisconsin treats a standard first offense as a civil forfeiture rather than a crime.
- It reaches you in your own car. Wis. Stat. § 343.315(1g)(b) applies the disqualification to operating any motor vehicle if you have ever held a CDL.
- No occupational license fixes it. Wis. Stat. § 343.10(2)(c): “No occupational license permitting the operation of a commercial motor vehicle may be granted to a person.”
- No court can hide it. 49 CFR § 384.226 forbids every state from masking, deferring or diverting a CDL holder’s traffic conviction.
We are Cafferty, Scheidegger & Johnson, S.C., a criminal defense firm at 840 Lake Avenue in Racine with an office at 7001 30th Avenue in Kenosha, and we have defended impaired-driving cases along the I-94 corridor since 1994. The phone is answered around the clock at (262) 632-5000. If you drive for a living, call before anything gets resolved, because almost every path to protecting the license runs through the charge itself.
Why the ordinary Wisconsin logic misleads commercial drivers
Wisconsin is the only state that treats a standard first OWI as a civil forfeiture. That fact drives a lot of decisions, and for a CDL holder it drives the wrong ones.
The forfeiture is real: $150 to $300 under Wis. Stat. § 346.65(2)(am)1, plus the surcharge and costs, and a 6 to 9 month revocation of the ordinary operating privilege under § 343.30(1q)(b)2, with occupational license eligibility immediately. Handled alone, that looks survivable.
The commercial consequence is in a different chapter and it is not discretionary. Wis. Stat. § 343.315(2)(a) disqualifies a person from operating a commercial motor vehicle for one year on a first conviction of the offenses it lists, which include § 346.63(1)(a) impaired driving, § 346.63(1)(b) and (5)(a) alcohol concentration offenses, refusals under § 343.305(7) or (9), leaving the scene, and using a motor vehicle in a felony.
And the reach of that provision is the part people do not see coming. Section 343.315(1g) defines “engaged in commercial motor vehicle-related activities” as both of the following:
(a) Operating or using a commercial motor vehicle.
(b) Operating or using any motor vehicle on or after September 30, 2005, if the person operating or using the vehicle has ever held a commercial driver license, has ever operated a commercial motor vehicle on a highway, or has ever been convicted of a violation related to, or been disqualified from, operating a commercial motor vehicle.
Read paragraph (b) slowly. It is not about the truck. It is about the person. A Saturday-night arrest in a pickup, off duty, with the CDL sitting in a drawer at home, is inside it.
The federal table, and the three numbers
The disqualification periods come from Table 1 to 49 CFR § 383.51, and Wisconsin’s statute mirrors them:
| Offense (Table 1) | First conviction in a CMV | First conviction in a non-CMV | While placarded HazMat | Second conviction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under the influence of alcohol as prescribed by State law | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years | Life |
| Under the influence of a controlled substance | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years | Life |
| Alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater while operating a CMV | 1 year | Not applicable | 3 years | Life |
| Refusing a test required under implied consent | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years | Life |
| Leaving the scene of an accident | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years | Life |
| Using the vehicle to commit a felony | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years | Life |
Section 383.51(a)(4) of that part explains how a second one is counted: “each conviction for any offense listed in Tables 1 through 4 to this section resulting from a separate incident, whether committed in a CMV or non-CMV, must be counted.” A lifetime disqualification can be reduced to 10 years under 49 CFR § 383.51(a)(6) after an approved state rehabilitation program, except for the controlled-substance trafficking felony in Table 1, which carries no reinstatement route.
Now the three Wisconsin numbers, because the commonly quoted 0.04 is only the middle one:
- 0.08 and above. Ordinary OWI under Wis. Stat. § 346.63(1).
- 0.04 to 0.08. Section 346.63(5)(a) prohibits driving or operating a commercial motor vehicle “while the person has an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or more but less than 0.08.” Penalties run through § 346.65(2j) and priors are counted under § 343.307(2), a different list from the one used for ordinary OWI.
- Above 0.0, or within 4 hours of drinking. Section 346.63(7)(a) prohibits driving, operating or being on duty time with respect to a commercial motor vehicle while having an alcohol concentration above 0.0, within 4 hours of having consumed or having been under the influence of an intoxicating beverage, or while possessing an intoxicating beverage that is not an unopened, manifested shipment.
That third one is the rule that ends shifts. It does not require impairment, and it does not require 0.04.
The 24-hour out-of-service order
Before any court gets involved, one thing happens at the roadside.
Under Wis. Stat. § 343.305(7)(b), if a person driving or on duty time with respect to a commercial motor vehicle submits to chemical testing and the result shows an alcohol concentration above 0.0, the officer shall issue a citation under § 346.63(7)(a)1, “issue an out-of-service order to the person for the 24 hours after the testing,” and report both to the department. If the person refuses instead, § 343.305(9)(am) requires the officer to “immediately issue an out-of-service order to the person for the 24 hours after the refusal.”
Those orders are not informal. Wis. Stat. § 343.23(2)(a) requires the department’s driver file to include “a record of any out-of-service orders issued under s. 343.305 (7) (b) or (9) (am).”
Refusal is its own major offense
Refusing the evidentiary chemical test is a civil matter in Wisconsin, resolved at a hearing rather than a trial. Federally it is a Table 1 major offense: refusing a test required under a state’s implied consent law is a one-year disqualification on a first occurrence and a lifetime disqualification on a second, in a CMV or not. Wisconsin lists the same thing at § 343.315(2)(a)5.
Wisconsin’s implied consent statute reaches commercial drivers in its first line. Section 343.305(2) applies to “[a]ny person who is on duty time with respect to a commercial motor vehicle or drives or operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state.”
The deadline is the same 10 days that applies to every refusal: a written demand for a hearing under § 343.305(9), sent to the court named in the notice. Our refusal hearing page covers the proceeding, and the first 30 days post covers how the two clocks run.
The occupational license will not save the job
This is the single most consequential paragraph on the page for most readers.
Wisconsin’s occupational license under Wis. Stat. § 343.10 is the normal remedy for a revoked or suspended operating privilege. Section 343.10(1)(a) describes who may apply, § 343.10(2)(a)4 requires that at least 15 days have elapsed since the revocation or suspension unless another period or immediate eligibility applies, and § 343.10(5)(a)1 sets the restrictions: definite hours, not more than 12 in a day and not more than 60 in a week, with permitted purposes including travel to comply with a driver safety plan.
Then § 343.10(2)(c): “No occupational license permitting the operation of a commercial motor vehicle may be granted to a person.”
There is no hardship exception, no employer letter that changes it, and no waiting period after which it becomes available. During a disqualification the commercial privilege is simply gone.
Nor is that paragraph on its way out. 2025 Wis. Act 210 rewrites parts of the occupational license statute, and the effective-date note published with the statute attaches to § 343.10(2)(b), which concerns vehicle classes the applicant was not authorized to operate. Paragraph (2)(c), the commercial motor vehicle bar, carries no pending amendment. The occupational license page explains what the license does cover.
And no court can keep it off the record
Some states historically offered deferred dispositions that kept a conviction off the driving record. For CDL holders, federal law forecloses it everywhere. 49 CFR § 384.226:
The State must not mask, defer imposition of judgment, or allow an individual to enter into a diversion program that would prevent a CLP or CDL holder’s conviction for any violation, in any type of motor vehicle, of a State or local traffic control law (other than parking, vehicle weight, or vehicle defect violations) from appearing on the CDLIS driver record, whether the driver was convicted for an offense committed in the State where the driver is licensed or another State.
Wisconsin’s record-keeping matches it. Under Wis. Stat. § 343.23(2)(b), the record of convictions for the disqualifying offenses in § 343.315(2)(a) to (e) “shall be maintained permanently.”
There is also a reporting duty that runs on its own clock and that drivers routinely miss: 49 CFR § 383.31 requires a CDL holder convicted of violating a state or local traffic law, in any type of motor vehicle and other than parking, to notify their current employer in writing within 30 days of the conviction.
Major offense or serious violation: not the same rule
It is worth separating the two federal tables, because the difference decides whether an ordinary ticket matters.
- Table 1, major offenses. Impaired driving, refusal, leaving the scene, felony use of a vehicle. The non-CMV column applies directly. No precondition.
- Table 2, serious traffic violations. Speeding 15 mph or more over, reckless driving, improper or erratic lane changes, following too closely, and others. Two in a rolling 3-year period is a 60-day disqualification and three is 120 days. But for a violation committed in a non-CMV, the disqualification applies only “if the conviction results in the revocation, cancellation, or suspension of the CLP or CDL holder’s license or non-CMV driving privileges.” Wisconsin’s § 343.315(2)(f) carries the same condition.
So a speeding ticket in your own car has to cost you your ordinary Wisconsin operating privilege first, usually through demerit points, before it becomes a federal CDL problem. An OWI does not. Our traffic practice covers the points arithmetic at racineticket.com.
Kenosha County and the I-94 corridor
Interstate 94 runs the length of Kenosha County’s western edge and carries a large share of the state’s commercial traffic, with the Wisconsin State Patrol working it and the Illinois line at the southern end. Two things follow for commercial drivers cited here.
First, a State Patrol citation charges a state statute, so an impaired-driving case goes to Kenosha County Circuit Court at 912 56th Street rather than to a village municipal court.
Second, the cross-border prior-offense question is live in almost every case. Priors for the ordinary OWI tiers are counted under Wis. Stat. § 343.307(1), while priors affecting the commercial offense under § 346.63(5) are counted under § 343.307(2), a list that includes out-of-state convictions “in substantial conformity with 49 CFR 383.51 (b) Table 1, items (1) to (4).” Two different lists, one driving record, and the arithmetic decides the tier. We work through that in when the prior does not count.
Our Kenosha County OWI page covers the local enforcement pattern, and the CDL OWI page covers the offense in full.
What people search, and what to do first
The searches that lead here are cdl owi wisconsin, cdl dui wisconsin, does a DUI in my personal vehicle affect my CDL, and can I get an occupational license with a CDL. The answers are: one year, yes, and no.
The order of operations for a commercial driver:
- Do not resolve the citation to make it go away. For a CDL holder the conviction is the disqualifying event, and 49 CFR § 384.226 means nobody can put it back in the box afterward.
- Calendar the 10-day deadline under Wis. Stat. § 343.305(9) if you refused, or the administrative review request under § 343.305(8)(b)1 if you tested.
- Get the out-of-service order and the test paperwork into your lawyer’s hands in the first week, while squad video and calibration records are still routine to obtain.
- Ask what the State is counting as a prior, and under which list.
- Calendar the 30-day employer notification under 49 CFR § 383.31 if a conviction does enter.
Related reading: CDL and OWI · Refusal hearings · Occupational licenses · Administrative suspension · Kenosha County OWI · Second-offense OWI and the prior-offense audit
Non-impaired traffic citations, including the demerit points that decide whether a personal-vehicle ticket ever reaches a CDL, are handled by our traffic practice at racineticket.com. Any other criminal charge is at racinelaw.com.
