## THEATTORNEYGENERAL

PRICE DANIEL .4TTOFlNEY

GENeRAI.

Hon. TomM. Miller County Attorney Young County Graham, Texas . January 21, 1948 Opinion No, V-479 Re: The authority of a county court to require surrender of ‘the operator’s lioense, for transmittal to the Department of Public Safety, following aonviction of the operator for driving while intoxioated e Dear Sir: You have requested an opinion of this department on the above-captioned subject and we quote from your letter as follows:

“In June, 1947, a manplead guilty to the offense of driving an automobile upon a public highway in Young County, Texas, 

### whileintexioatea and WWIfined #30,OOand a six mOnthaq euspen&on of his drivar’s license by Judge The%?801%; at the tire 

### sf his 0onviction under Artfola Panel Cads, dug54 ThO~ap5on held that the autama&o suap4noion or 

### defendant'soperator’s lfceese ap- : plied ikaeording to Artiole 6&V%, &Wised Civil Statutaa, Section 24saa4 the* accordlag to $ection 25 (a) of aaid Article 6gESlb, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, that it was the duty of the court to require the defendant to surrender his opar&or’s license, and for the Clerk of this. Court to forward to the Department of Public Safety a record of such conviction tosther with the driver’s license of the defandanta This lvss etrowdingly done in this ioasea f*as county Attorney, advised the Court last June,that this was the correct procedure to follow; I have advised the court at this time that this,was and is nowthe correct procedure to followa ”e
. . . Please advise this office whether or not the county court should require the surrender of an operator’s license and have the 

### clerk1



### Hon. TQ~M.Yiller, page 2, V-,479

of. the court send it in together with the record of the oonvictfon.R Pertinent to this problem, we quote Article 6687b, Sections 24 and 25, V. C. S., in part, as follows:

“Sec. 24. (a) The license of any oerson shall be’ automatically suspended upon final conviction of any of the f,ollowing offenses:

“2t Drivi,ng amotor vehicle while under the; influenoe of intoxicating liquor or aarootio,drugs.* ’

‘“(‘b) The suspension above provided shall in

,. the first instance be for a period of six (6) months. fin event any license shall be suspended under then provision ofthis Section for a second time, said seoond suspension shall be for a period of one (1) ,yePf.

“Sec. 25. (a) Whenever any person is convicted of 

### any offense for which this Act makes automatic the suspension of the operator’s, commercial operatar’s) or chauffeur’s license of such person, the court in which such conviction is had shall require the surrender to it of all operators’, ~commercial operator’s, and chauffeurs *licenses then held by the person so convioted and the olerk of said court .shall, thereupon forward the same together~with a reoord of suck.cenviction to the Department, wit& ten (10) days from the datesof rontiH,ien. , : *” From the clear and unambiguous language of ,the foregoing statute, it is manifest that upon co ’nviction of the ~offense of driving a motor vehicle upon a public highwaywhile under the influence of intoxicating liquor, the oper8ter’a fiaense of such oonvicted operator is automat

### ical,ly awpem#cQ 

### aa an ineq0apebl.e oolsequemoe of, the con

### vio~tieh. Nofurther aotien, dealaration, or judgment on the part ef the court in wh~i.chthe cenvicticn is rendered is necessary to accomplish such suspension, as the license is suspended ipso facto by reason of such conviction, and the sole question remaining is that of the custody of the sw)snQea license.

‘Regarding the custod wequote from Qpinion No. --mf of the suspended Uoenss,

rendered by 

### this Department, as follows :

“Section 25 directs the court to report to the-. .



### Hon. Tom

### M.Miller, page 3, V-479

Department 

### all convictions of violations of all laws regulating the operation of motor tehicles on the. highways. The purpose of these requirements is to furnish the foundation for apprcpriete action by the Department D In the instances where suspension. is automatic (Section 24) the law recognizes that no further hearing is required for the procedural ‘due process of law,,’ because the person aceused in the 

### criminal aotion is bound to knaa, 

### as a matte,* of law, that an automatic suspension of his driver’s license will be a consequence of his conriction, The right to the driver’s license is, tr%ed as a part of the same suit. *The court is direated to immediately take up the license and the clerk of said oourt to forward same, together with a record of, such conviction, to the Department within ten (10) days from the date of the conviction, It is incumbent upon the Court to require the surrender of the license and the clerk to forward same with the record of conviction to the Department 0 The court’s failure, however, to require the surrender of the license does not affect its suspension.” It is our opinion, therefore, that the county court is charged with the duty of assuming the custody of the suspended license upon conviction of an operator of the offense of driving a motor vehicle ~petaa public highwaywhile intoxicated e Section 25. It must be borae in mindsthat the acti,on of the court in assuming the custody of the suspended lioense is not determinative of the question of the suspension of the license. Such license would be suspended regardless of the assumption of custody by the court for transmittal to the Department of Public Safety* In this aonnection, wewish to call attention to Sec. 

### 32of Art. 6687b, V. C. S., as follows:



### Y3ec. 32. It shall be unlawful for any person to commit any of the following acts: ”

. . . i



### “4. To fail or refuse to surrender to the Department on demand any operator’s, commercial operator’s or chauffeur’s license which has been suspended, cancelled sor revoked as provided by law:

. *

. *”

### ,’TV-91

your

: We 

### are ‘attaching hereto a aopy of Opinion No.

rrom.whiohwehave quoted, as being pertinent to problem,

It la mandatory that the county 'oourt 

### require the surrender of anoperatorls lioense, for transmittal to the Department of Pub110Sarety, rollowing oonviction of the operator or the offense or driving ,while intoxicated. Article 6687b, Sections 24and,25, V. C. 9. Very truly yours, ATTOFNEY

GENEF?AL

OFTEXAS