The Honorable Wilson E. Soeir Oninion No. B-S37 

Director 

Texas Department of Public Safety Re: When probation of a 

5805 North Lamar Blvd. driver's license susBOX 4087 

Austin, Texas 78773 

Dear Col. Speir: 

pension may be revoked. 

You have requested our opinion regarding the "controlling 

event" in a violation of probation of a suspended driver's 

license. Section 22 of article 6687b, V.T.C.S., provides, 

in pertinent part: 

(e) The judge or officer holding a 

hearing under Subsection (a), (b), or 

(d) of this section, or the court trying 

an appeal under Subsection (c) of this 

section, on determining that the License 

shall be suspended or revoked, may, when 

it appears to the satisfaction of the 

court that the ends of justice and the 

best interests of the public as well as 

the defendant will be subserved thereby, 

recommend that the revocation or suspension 

be probated on terms and conditions deemed 

by then officer or judge to be necessary or 

proper. The report to the department of 

the results of the hearing must include 

the terms and conditions of such probation. 

When probation is recommended by the judge 

or officer presiding at a hearing, the 

department shall probate the suspension 

or revocation. 

p. 3531 
The Honorable Wilson E. Speir - page 2 (H-837) 

(f) When the director believes that a 

licensee who has been placed on probation 

under Subsection (e) of this section has 

violated a term or condition of the probation,.the director shall notify the 

licensee and summons him to appear at a 

hearing as provided in Subsection (a) or 

(d) of this section, after notice as 

provided in Subsection (a) of this section. 

The issue at the hearing shall be whether 

a term or condition of the probation has 

been violated. The officer or judge 

presiding at the hearing shall report 

his finding to the department and if the 

finding is that a term or condition of 

the probation is violated, the department 

shall revoke or suspend the license as 

determined in the original hearing. 

You state that in the usual situation the licensee 

violates a probation condition that he not violate any traffic 

law of the State of Texas. In many instances, the Department 

is notified of a traffic offense only a short time before 

the probation period expires, and frequently, such period 

has in fact expired by the time the notice of hearing reaches 

the licensee. You therefore ask whether the date of the actual 

traffic offense which serves as the basis of the probation 

violation hearing, the date of final conviction of such 

offense, or some subsequent date, is the controlling event 

in determining whether the Department must hold a hearing. 

In our opinion, the date of the actual offense is the 

controlling event. By analogy, it is well established that 

the dates of the offenses, rather than the dates of final 

conviction, control in determining whether four violations 

have occurred within a period of 12 months for purposes of 

license suspension hearings. Drake v. Texas Department of 

Public Safety, 400 S.W.2d 819, 822 (?%x. Civ. App. -- FOX 

Worth 1966, writ ref'd n.r.e.1. See also Texas Department -- 

of Public Safety v. King, 366 S.W.Zd 215, 219-20 (Tex. Sup. 

m63).hus, we conclude that the date of the commission of 

the offense is the controlling event in a violation of 

probation of a suspended driver's license. 

p. 3532 
The Honorable Wilson E. Speir - page 3 (H-837) 

SUMMARY 

The date of the commission of the traffic 

offense which serves as the basis for 

holding a probation violation hearing is 

the controlling event in determining 

whether there has been a violation of 

the terms of probation during the probationary period for a suspended driver's 

license. 

APPROVED: 

Attorney General of Texas 

C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

jwb 

p. 3533