Wisconsin DUI Laws

OWI stands for Operating While under the Influence of an intoxicant — Wisconsin's statutory label for the impaired-driving offense under §346.63(1). Functionally OWI is the same concept as DUI or DWI in other states: driving while impaired by alcohol, drugs, or a combination, or at or above the prohibited alcohol concentration. Wisconsin courts, the Wisconsin DOT, and the state patrol universally use "OWI"; older or out-of-state materials using "DUI" or "DWI" are referring to the same statutory offense under §346.63(1).

Generally no. A standard first OWI in Wisconsin is a civil forfeiture under §346.65(2)(am)1 — a $150 to $300 fine with no jail exposure and no criminal record, plus a 6-to-9-month court-ordered license revocation under §343.30(1q)(b)2 with occupational-license eligibility at any time. The civil baseline flips to a Class A criminal misdemeanor — $350 to $1,100 fine, 5 days to 6 months in jail — only when a passenger under 16 was in the vehicle at the time of the violation, under §346.65(2)(f)1. Wisconsin is the only US state in which a garden-variety first OWI is not a crime.

A second OWI with a prior countable conviction in the previous 10 years is a criminal misdemeanor under §346.65(2)(am)2 carrying a $350 to $1,100 fine, 5 days to 6 months in jail, and a 1-to-18-month court-ordered revocation under §343.30(1q)(b)3. The 10-year window is measured per §346.65(2c) from the dates of the prior refusals or violations counted under §343.307(1). Wisconsin's lookback is structurally asymmetric: the 10-year window applies only at the §346.65(2)(am)2 second-offense tier — at the third-offense and higher tiers under §346.65(2)(am)3-7 the window drops entirely and the state counts priors on a pure lifetime basis under §343.307(1). A 9-year-old prior escalates a current OWI to the §346.65(2)(am)2 second tier but an 11-year-old prior does not, while either prior counts equally at the third-or-higher tier.

Yes. Wisconsin's "prohibited alcohol concentration" under §340.01(46m) is tiered rather than fixed at 0.08. §340.01(46m)(a) sets the baseline at 0.08 for drivers with 2 or fewer prior countable convictions, suspensions, or revocations under §343.307(1). §340.01(46m)(c) sets a stricter threshold of more than 0.02 for any driver with 3 or more §343.307(1) priors OR any driver currently subject to an ignition-interlock order under §343.301. This is a distinct per-se prohibition — not a sentencing enhancement at the 0.08 tier — and the correct statutory citation is §340.01(46m)(c), not the commonly-repeated but non-existent "§343.305(11m)" that circulates in some secondary sources.

Wisconsin's implied-consent law at §343.305(2) treats any driver on a public highway as having consented to chemical testing after a lawful OWI arrest; an improper refusal carries its own court-ordered revocation that runs separately from any OWI criminal case under §343.305(10)(b). A first improper refusal produces a 1-year revocation with occupational-license eligibility after 30 days; a second refusal (or a first refusal by a driver with a prior countable OWI in the previous 10 years) produces a 2-year revocation; a third or subsequent refusal produces a 3-year revocation — and §343.305(10)(b)4m doubles each of those bounds if a minor passenger under 16 was in the vehicle. An improper refusal under §343.305 also independently triggers mandatory ignition interlock under §343.301(1g)(a)1, so a driver who refuses faces interlock installation regardless of whether the underlying OWI charge results in a conviction.

Wisconsin's §343.301(1g) attaches the IID requirement to three independent triggers rather than to a single rule: (a)1 the driver improperly refused a chemical test under §343.305; (a)2.a the driver's measured alcohol concentration was 0.15 or more at the time of the offense; or (a)2.b the driver has at least one prior countable conviction, suspension, or revocation under §343.307(1). IID is therefore NOT automatic on a modal first-offense civil forfeiture (BAC 0.08-0.149, no prior, no refusal) but IS automatic whenever any of the three triggers activates — including an elevated-BAC first offense, a refusal first offense, and every second-offense-or-above conviction. The prior-count trigger sweeps in any countable prior under §343.307(1) regardless of age, even one outside the 10-year §346.65(2)(am)2 window for criminal-tier escalation, per the Wisconsin Court of Appeals's holding in Village of Grafton v. Seatz, 2014 WI App 23. §343.301(2m) sets the IID duration at not less than one year and not more than the maximum revocation period permitted for the underlying refusal or violation.

Wisconsin's felony threshold is lifetime-based rather than window-based under §346.65(2)(am)4-7, keyed off the §343.307(1) lifetime count of prior countable convictions, suspensions, and revocations. The fourth lifetime OWI is a Class H felony under §346.65(2)(am)4 (up to $10,000 fine and 6 years confinement); the fifth or sixth is a Class G felony under (am)5 (up to $25,000 fine and 10 years); the seventh through ninth is a Class F felony under (am)6 (up to $25,000 fine and 12 years 6 months); and the tenth or greater is a Class E felony under (am)7 (up to $50,000 fine and 15 years). A separate felony elevation under §346.65(2)(f)2 converts any §346.63(1) conviction reaching the third-offense tier or above into a felony whenever a minor passenger under 16 was in the vehicle, regardless of prior count.