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Tex. Penal Code § 49.04

DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED.

Texas DWI statute · Effective September 1, 2025 · Checked against the official text September 10, 2026 · How we research and review these pages

What this section governs

Texas DWI: intoxicated operation in public; Class B/A, open-container, 0.15, school-zone SJF.

Plain-language summary

This is Texas's criminal driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) offense. Subsection (a) makes a person commit an offense if the person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place. Subsection (b) grades an offense under this section as a Class B misdemeanor with a minimum term of confinement of 72 hours, except as provided by Subsections (c), (d), and (e) and Section 49.09. Subsection (c) keeps Class B but raises the minimum to six days if the person operating the motor vehicle had an open container of alcohol in the person's immediate possession at the time of the offense. Subsection (d) makes the offense a Class A misdemeanor if analysis of a blood, breath, or urine specimen showed an alcohol concentration level of 0.15 or more at the time the analysis was performed. Subsection (e) makes the offense a state jail felony if at the time of the offense the person was operating the motor vehicle in a school crossing zone during the time the reduced speed limit applies to the zone; "school crossing zone" has the meaning assigned by Transportation Code § 541.302. "Intoxicated" (alcohol concentration 0.08 or more, or loss of normal mental or physical faculties) is defined in § 49.01, not restated here. Repeat/enhanced offense ladders live in § 49.09 (no fixed 10-year lookback invented here). DWI with a child passenger younger than 15 is a distinct state jail felony under § 49.045, not a § 49.04 subsection. Under-21 DUI-by-minor is Alcoholic Beverage Code § 106.041, not this adult DWI section. Commercial 0.04 limits are Transportation Code ch. 522. Administrative license revocation is Transp. ch. 524 / 724; refusal is not a standalone crime under this section. Standalone open-container Class C is § 49.031, separate from § 49.04(c). Label adult offense DWI, not DUI. Currency: Capitol PE.49 through Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 991 (S.B. 826), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2025; verified 2026-09-10.

Official text (excerpt)

Sec. 49.04. DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED. (a) A person commits an offense if the person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place. (b) Except as provided by Subsections (c), (d), and (e) and Section 49.09, an offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor, with a minimum term of confinement of 72 hours. (c) If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this section that at the time of the offense the person operating the motor vehicle had an open container of alcohol in the person's immediate possession, the offense is a Class B misdemeanor, with a minimum term of confinement of six days. (d) If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this section that an analysis of a specimen of the person's blood, breath, or urine showed an alcohol concentration level of 0.15 or more at the time the analysis was performed, the offense is a Class A misdemeanor. (e) If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this section that at the time of the offense the person was operating the motor vehicle in a school crossing zone during the time the reduced speed limit applies to the zone, the offense is a state jail felony. In this subsection, "school crossing zone" has the meaning assigned by Section 541.302, Transportation Code. Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 14.55, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by: Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 960 (H.B. 1199), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2011. Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 991 (S.B. 826), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2025.

Source: Texas Legislature (Texas Constitution and Statutes), accessed September 10, 2026. The excerpt is reproduced verbatim; read the full section on the official site before relying on it.

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