First DWI in Texas

Is a first DWI a misdemeanor in Texas?

Yes. A first DWI is a Class B misdemeanor under Penal Code § 49.04(b), which carries a fine of up to $2,000 and confinement of 72 hours to 180 days once § 12.22 sets the caps.

Three facts inside § 49.04 change that answer, and none of them needs a prior conviction:

• An open container of alcohol in the driver’s immediate possession leaves the offense a Class B misdemeanor but raises the minimum confinement from 72 hours to six days (§ 49.04(c)).
• An analysis of blood, breath or urine showing an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more makes it a Class A misdemeanor (§ 49.04(d)).
• Driving in a school crossing zone during the reduced speed limit makes it a state jail felony (§ 49.04(e)). That subsection was added by S.B. 826 and took effect on September 1, 2025.

A fourth route out of Class B is one section further on in the code. Section 49.045 makes a first DWI a state jail felony where the vehicle is occupied by a passenger younger than 15. The Class A level raises the caps to $4,000 and one year under § 12.21; the state jail level to 180 days to two years and $10,000 under § 12.35.

What is the fine for a first DWI in Texas?

Up to $2,000 for the offense, plus a separate $3,000 the court has no discretion over. Penal Code § 12.22 sets the cap; Transportation Code § 709.001(b)(1) adds the $3,000 on a first conviction within a 36-month period.

The two numbers do different jobs. The $2,000 is a ceiling, and a judge can set the fine anywhere below it or impose none at all under § 12.22, which offers a fine, confinement, or both. The § 709.001 figure is a fixed amount that attaches on conviction, and § 709.001(b)(3) raises it to $6,000 rather than $3,000 on a first or subsequent conviction where the analysis showed 0.15 or more.

Pages written before 2019 describe a different system, so the date on what you are reading matters here. Section 709.001 was added by H.B. 2048 in 2019 and took effect on September 1 that year. The bill’s caption describes what it did: “the repeal of the driver responsibility program… eliminating program surcharges; authorizing and increasing criminal fines”. The annual surcharge a Texas DWI used to carry for three years after conviction is gone; this one-time fine replaced it.

The fine can be waived, and the statute says how. Section 709.001(c) requires a court that finds the person indigent to waive all fines and costs imposed under the section, and subsection (d) lists what establishes indigence, including a recent tax return, a wage statement, or agency documentation showing income at or below 125 percent of the applicable income level established by the federal poverty guidelines.

How much jail time does a first DWI carry?

72 hours to 180 days. Section 49.04(b) writes the minimum term of confinement into the offense itself, and § 12.22 caps a Class B misdemeanor at 180 days. An open container raises the floor to six days under § 49.04(c).

A suspended sentence is the other route. Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42A.053(a) lets a judge suspend the imposition of the sentence and place the defendant on community supervision, and subsection (c) makes a defendant ineligible only where the sentence exceeds 10 years, which a Class B misdemeanor cannot reach.

Community supervision on a first offense carries no county jail of its own. Article 42A.401(a) lists the five cases where a judge granting supervision must still order confinement, and every one of them names a repeat or injury offense: 72 hours where the defendant was punished under § 49.09(a), five days where § 49.09(h) also applies, 10 days under § 49.09(b), 30 days for intoxication assault, and 120 days for intoxication manslaughter. A first offense punished under § 49.04 is not on the list.

How long is the license suspension for a first DWI?

90 days to one year on conviction, under Transportation Code § 521.344(a)(2)(A). A second suspension can arrive months earlier, from the arrest rather than the conviction, and the two are decided in different places.

That earlier one is Administrative License Revocation, a civil case run by the Department of Public Safety. Section 524.022(a) suspends an adult license for 90 days after a failed specimen, or one year where the driving record shows an alcohol-related or drug-related enforcement contact in the preceding 10 years. Refusing to give a specimen costs longer than failing one: § 724.035 sets 180 days, or two years with a prior contact.

The ALR suspension is contestable, on a short clock. Section 524.031 requires the request for a hearing to be made not later than the 15th day after the date the person receives notice of the suspension. Where a refusal suspension is followed by a conviction for the same offense, § 521.344(c) credits it toward the court-ordered suspension.

Driving during a suspension is possible on conditions. Article 42A.407(g) lets someone whose license is suspended for an offense under §§ 49.04–49.08 drive during the suspension if they use an ignition interlock for the whole period and hold an occupational driver’s license with an interlock designation under § 521.2465. Drivers who were younger than 21 at the time of the offense get a fixed 90 days from the date supervision starts, under art. 42A.407(f).

What does probation require after a first DWI?

Every DWI community supervision carries two conditions before a judge adds any of their own. Article 42A.402(a) requires a drug or alcohol dependence evaluation. Article 42A.403(a) requires a TDLR-regulated education program, on a deadline the statute writes rather than the court.

The deadline: art. 42A.403(a) requires the education program to be completed before the 181st day after the date community supervision is granted. Subsection (c) lets a judge waive it or grant an extension on a written motion showing good cause, and an extension may run no later than the first anniversary of the beginning date of the supervision.

The program art. 42A.403 names is the 12-hour DWI Education class, and it is the one a first offense takes. Article 42A.404(a) sends anyone punished under § 49.09 to the repeat offender program instead, which is the 32-hour class. Read the program name on your own order before you enroll in either.

Missing the deadline costs the license on its own, and it turns on what the department’s records show. Section 521.344(e) directs the director to revoke the license of a person who does not successfully complete the program once the completion date has passed, or to bar a resident who holds no license from getting one. Article 42A.406(d) then charges $100 to reinstate a license revoked over an educational program requirement imposed under art. 42A.403. Under subsection (b) of that article the instructor reports the completion to the Department of Public Safety, and under subsection (a) the court clerk reports the requirement itself.

An ignition interlock may or may not be part of it. Article 42A.408(b) says the court may require one on any conviction under §§ 49.04–49.08. Subsection (c) makes it mandatory where the analysis showed 0.15 or more, where the defendant was punished under § 49.09(a) or (b), or where the court determines under subsection (d) that there is a previous conviction under §§ 49.04–49.08. On a first offense, the 0.15 reading is the trigger that applies.

What does a first DWI cost in Texas?

$3,175 is the two fixed statutory amounts plus the class, before any fine the judge sets under the $2,000 cap. The table lists what each figure is and the statute or price list it comes from.

The last row is the one with no number beside it. Section 521.313(a) fixes the reinstatement fee at $100, and the Department of Public Safety prints the same figure on its own page along with the SR-22 condition: the certificate “must be maintained for two years from the date of conviction.” An SR-22 is filed by an insurer rather than by the state, so what carrying one costs is between you and the insurer.

Court costs and attorney fees sit outside every statute cited on this page. The consolidated court costs a Texas conviction carries are fixed statewide rather than by the county; attorney fees are published nowhere at all. The guide to what a DWI costs in Texas itemizes both, with the class prices, the interlock lease and the reinstatement fees beside them. What we can tell you is which class your order names. The full penalties guide sets the first offense beside the second and third; if you are holding the order now, send us a photo of it and we will read the program name off it before you pay for anything.