Updated October 14, 2026
Long Beach runs on commercial drivers: the port, the drayage yards, the bus lines, the delivery fleets. For a commercial driver a DUI is two cases, and the second one is the one that costs the job. The criminal case is the same as anyone's. The commercial license case is separate, written into both California and federal law, and it can be decided by the DMV before the criminal case is over. This guide covers the lower limit, the one-year disqualification, the lifetime rule on a second, and why the DMV hearing is the first fight, not an afterthought.
Two limits
Every driver is at 0.08. A commercial driver behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is also at 0.04 under Vehicle Code section 23152(d), and a test within three hours of driving is presumed to reflect the level while driving. Below either number, "under the influence" can still be charged on the officer's observations and the field tests. Federal rules also put a commercial driver out of service for 24 hours for any measurable alcohol in a commercial vehicle, before any court is involved.
A commercial vehicle for these purposes is, broadly, a truck or combination over 26,000 pounds, a bus built to carry more than 10 people, or any vehicle placarded for hazardous materials. The 0.04 limit applies in that vehicle; the disqualification below applies whatever you were driving.
The year off follows the conviction, not the vehicle
Vehicle Code section 15300 bars a driver from operating a commercial vehicle for one year on a first conviction for DUI while operating any motor vehicle, including your own car on a Sunday, for DUI causing injury, for the 0.04 offense, or for refusing a chemical test. If the offense happened while transporting hazardous materials, the period is three years. The federal rule, 49 CFR 383.51, says the same thing in a table, and every state applies it.
There is no hardship version. When the DMV issues a restricted license after a DUI, under section 13352 that license is noncommercial only. The interlock route that keeps most people driving to work keeps a commercial driver in a personal car, not in the truck.
A second conviction
Section 15302 disqualifies a driver from commercial driving for life on a second conviction for any combination of the offenses above, in any vehicle, at any distance in time. The federal rule allows a state to offer reinstatement after 10 years to a driver who completes an approved rehabilitation program; whether and how that is available in California is a question for the first conversation, not something to count on.
The DMV's own action, and the employer
Before any conviction, the DMV acts on its own. A 0.08 result, or 0.04 in a commercial vehicle, suspends the whole driving privilege, commercial included, for four months on a first occasion and one year with a prior. A refusal is longer: one year on a first occasion, two years with one prior, three years with two or more. A commercial driver cannot get a restricted commercial license during any of it.
That administrative finding also counts for the commercial license. The DMV can impose the one-year commercial disqualification on the strength of the suspension itself, with no criminal conviction at all, and California's courts have upheld that (Ziehlke v. Valverde, 2011). The hearing to contest the suspension has to be requested within 10 days of the arrest, and for a commercial driver it is the first and most important fight; see the 10-day DMV deadline guide.
Federal rules also require a commercial driver to notify the employer within 30 days of a conviction for any traffic offense other than parking, in any vehicle. A DOT-regulated employer has its own alcohol rules on top: a positive test or a conviction usually triggers the return-to-duty process with a substance abuse professional before the driver can be dispatched again.
Two fronts: the DMV hearing and the charge
Section 15300 lists the convictions that trigger the year off: DUI, DUI with injury, the 0.04 offense, and refusal. A wet reckless under section 23103.5 is not on that list as the statute is written, so in court the charge matters more for a commercial driver than for anyone else.
A reduction in court does not, on its own, save the commercial license. If the DMV's administrative suspension stands, the one-year disqualification can follow from it regardless of how the criminal case ends. Keeping the commercial license usually means winning, or never losing, the DMV hearing, and then not taking a conviction that is on the section 15300 list. Both are argued on the evidence, and prosecutors are not obliged to offer a reduction.
What can change the outcome
Whether the stop was lawful. Whether the vehicle actually met the definition of a commercial vehicle, if the 0.04 count is charged. Whether the breath machine's margin of error, which matters more at 0.04 than at 0.08, puts the result in doubt. Whether the three-hour presumption is rebutted by when you last drank and when the test was taken. Whether a blood sample was drawn, stored, and tested correctly. Each is a question of evidence, and each is examined before any plea is considered.
If the arrest was in the last 10 days, the DMV request comes first. A consultation with a Long Beach DUI defense attorney covers the hearing, the commercial license, and the police report in one conversation. The Long Beach office is a few minutes from the port; Long Beach cases are heard at the courthouse on Magnolia Avenue, listed on the courthouses page.
This page is general information for Long Beach residents, not legal advice about any specific situation. Agency fees and procedures change; confirm details with the agency before you rely on them.
