Minnesota DWI Laws

The per-se limit is an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more, measured at the time of driving or within two hours (§169A.20 subd. 1(5)); commercial drivers face a 0.04 limit. You can be charged below 0.08 — Minnesota separately criminalizes driving while under the influence of alcohol, a controlled substance, an intoxicating substance, or cannabis, with no number required, and any amount of a Schedule I or II controlled substance (or its metabolite) in your body is itself an offense, except cannabis. A reading of 0.16 or more is not a separate charge — it is an aggravating factor that raises the degree of the offense and its consequences.

Minnesota grades DWI by the number of aggravating factors present, not simply by how many prior offenses you have. No factors = fourth-degree, a misdemeanor (up to 90 days / $1,000). One factor = third-degree, a gross misdemeanor (up to 364 days / $3,000). Two or more factors = second-degree, also a gross misdemeanor. First-degree is a felony reserved for a fourth offense in ten years, a repeat after a felony DWI, or a prior felony criminal-vehicular-homicide/injury conviction (§§169A.24-169A.27). Refusing a chemical test starts at third-degree even with no factors.

A typical first offense — under 0.16, no child passenger — is fourth-degree DWI: a misdemeanor with up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, no mandatory minimum jail, plus a mandatory $75 surcharge and a $25 assessment charge, and a license revocation of at least 90 days (30 days once convicted). But a first offense at 0.16 or more, or with a young child in the car, jumps to third-degree DWI — a gross misdemeanor with up to 364 days and $3,000 — and a 0.16+ reading brings at least a one-year license revocation, "whiskey plates," and interlock as the only way to keep driving (§§169A.26-169A.27; §171.178; §169A.60).

There are exactly three (§169A.03 subd. 3): (1) a qualified prior impaired driving incident — a prior conviction OR a prior license revocation from an impaired-driving incident — within the past ten years; (2) an alcohol concentration of 0.16 or more at the time of the offense or within two hours; and (3) a child under 16 in the vehicle, if the child is more than 36 months younger than you. Each factor present raises the DWI one degree, which is why a first-time offense can be charged as second-degree with no priors at all.

A reading of 0.16 or more — twice the legal limit — is an aggravating factor: a first offense becomes third-degree DWI, a gross misdemeanor with up to 364 days and $3,000. On the license side it means a revocation of at least one year even for a first offense, no ordinary work/school limited license, and license-plate impoundment ("whiskey plates"); the ignition-interlock program is the only lawful way to drive during that year. The court may also add a penalty assessment of up to $1,000 and must order the level of care recommended by your substance-use-disorder assessment (§169A.285; §169A.275 subd. 5; §171.178 subd. 4).

Only first-degree DWI is a felony (§169A.24). It applies when you commit a DWI within ten years of the first of three or more qualified prior impaired driving incidents — in other words, a fourth offense in ten years — or when you have ANY prior felony DWI conviction (no time limit), or a prior felony conviction for substance-related criminal vehicular homicide or injury. The penalty is three to seven years in prison (the three-year minimum cannot be shortened, though its execution can be stayed) and up to $14,000, followed by a mandatory five-year conditional-release term (§169A.24 subd. 2; §169A.276).

A second offense within ten years is third-degree DWI (gross misdemeanor, up to 364 days / $3,000) with a mandatory minimum of 30 days — at least 48 hours of it in jail — and a third offense is second-degree DWI (same gross-misdemeanor ceiling) with a 90-day minimum, at least 30 days served consecutively (§169A.275 subd. 1-2). A judge can bypass those minimums by putting you on ignition interlock as a probation condition. The license consequences escalate faster: with any qualified prior in the past 20 years, your license is revoked until you complete two years of interlock compliance (one prior) or six years (two priors), plus treatment (§171.178 subd. 8).

There are two different clocks. The criminal ladder — the degree of the charge and the mandatory-minimum jail — counts qualified prior impaired driving incidents within TEN years, measured from the first prior to the new offense; a prior FELONY DWI counts forever and makes any new DWI a felony. The driver's-license system is harsher: the §171.178 revocation grid counts priors within TWENTY years, so a 15-year-old prior that no longer affects your criminal charge still puts you on the multi-year ignition-interlock track. Prior "incidents" include administrative license revocations, not just convictions (§169A.03 subd. 20-22).

The revocation is administrative and starts at arrest — the officer takes your license and issues a 14-day temporary one. With no qualified prior in 20 years: at least 90 days for a failed test (at least one year if 0.16+, 180 days if you are under 21), at least one year for a refusal, and 30 days (DWI) or 90 days (refusal) once convicted, with the conviction period generally replacing the test period for a first offense; 90 days are added if the incident involved injury or death. With ANY qualified prior in 20 years, fixed periods disappear: the license is revoked until you complete 2 / 6 / 10 years (by prior count) of ignition-interlock compliance plus treatment, under the system Minnesota consolidated into §171.178 in 2025 (with technical amendments effective August 1, 2026). Two or more priors also make you "inimical to public safety" — the license is canceled until rehabilitation.

For a first offense under 0.16 with no refusal, no — you can wait out the roughly 90-day revocation or use a work/school limited license. For a first offense at 0.16+, the revocation is at least a year and a limited license is off the table, so the interlock program is the only way to drive. For a refusal, the revocation is likewise at least a year; a limited license may be available after a 15-day wait, but the interlock program is the more certain path to driving — and either way it is your choice. With any qualified prior in the past 20 years, interlock stops being optional in practice: you cannot get full driving privileges back until you complete at least 2 years (one prior), 6 years (two priors), or 10 years (three or more) of compliant device use plus a treatment program (§171.178 subd. 8; §171.306). The device locks out at a 0.02 reading, drivers under 18 are ineligible, and there is an employer-vehicle exemption and an indigent discount.

Yes. Test refusal is its own crime (§169A.20 subd. 2): refusal alone is third-degree DWI — a gross misdemeanor with up to 364 days and $3,000, a harsher starting point than a simple failed test — and refusal with one aggravating factor is second-degree. The warrant rule matters: refusing a BREATH test is criminal outright, but refusing a BLOOD or URINE test is a crime only when police have a search warrant, and only if the alternative test was offered (§169A.51 subd. 3-4; §171.177). Refusal also brings a license revocation of at least one year (or the interlock track if you have priors), and the refusal itself is admissible as evidence at trial (§169A.45 subd. 3).

Both, in the right circumstances. Plate impoundment — the "whiskey plates" law (§169A.60) — is mandatory when the offense is within ten years of a qualified prior, involves a concentration of 0.16 or more, or involves a child under 16 (more than 36 months younger than the driver): the plates are destroyed and the vehicle may run only on specially coded plates for at least a year. Vehicle FORFEITURE (§169A.63) reaches first-degree (felony) DWI and any DWI within ten years of the first of two qualified priors. Innocent owners and lienholders have statutory protections, and in non-felony cases the forfeiture is stayed — and the vehicle returned — if the driver enrolls in the ignition-interlock program.

A driver under 21 commits a misdemeanor by driving while consuming alcohol, or after consuming it while physical evidence of the consumption remains in the body — no minimum concentration (§169A.33). The license consequence is a 30-day suspension, or 180 days with a prior underage violation. It is separate from DWI: if the conduct also meets the adult DWI elements (0.08+ or actual impairment), the DWI penalties apply instead — and an under-21 driver who fails a test at under twice the legal limit faces at least a 180-day revocation (§171.178 subd. 4(1)(ii)). An underage-drinking-and-driving license action does NOT count as a prior for later DWI escalation (§169A.03 subd. 21(c)).