Court says revoked Alaska driver’s licenses stay invalid until a driver reactivates them with DMV
- Alaska Beacon
- 23 hours ago
- 2 min read
By James Brooks
Alaska Beacon
In Alaska, a suspended driver’s license will stay suspended unless a driver takes steps to reactivate it, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled this week.
In an opinion published Friday, the court upheld the conviction of a Southcentral Alaska woman for driving with a revoked license.
Attorneys representing Kasey Malay had argued that under the plain language of state law, a license revocation lasts only for the time prescribed by courts or the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles.
Not so, the court ruled this week. Writing for the court, Judge Marjorie Allard said, “we conclude that a revoked driver’s license remains in ‘revoked’ status for purposes of a (driving with a revoked license) prosecution until the person takes the affirmative steps necessary to have their license reinstated and their license is reinstated.”
That would involve reapplying to the DMV and getting a new license.
Malay, who was convicted of DUI in 2010, was arrested three times for driving with a revoked license between 2012 and 2013, and had her license revoked for 90 days each time.
Malay never sought out the DMV for a new license, and in 2020 she was stopped by police three more times and thrice cited for driving with a revoked license.
She was convicted in jury trials on all three offenses and appealed those convictions.
Allard’s opinion notes that there is an “inherent ambiguity” in the state law defining “revoke” and in the law describing how to restore a revoked license. Both laws mention a “period of revocation.”
“Thus, at first blush, Malay’s arguments at trial appear to have some potential merit,” Allard wrote.
But that argument is defeated by a different law, she wrote. That statute, covering who is financially responsible in cases where a driver has a suspended license, says in part that “a period of suspension, revocation, or cancellation continues until proof of financial responsibility for the future is provided. Upon expiration of a period of limitation, the license remains revoked until proof of financial responsibility for the future is provided.”
Another statute, governing limited driver’s licenses, has similar language.
“We therefore conclude that, contrary to Malay’s arguments at trial and on appeal, a revoked license does not cease being ‘revoked’ for purposes of a DWLR prosecution when the period of revocation specifically ordered by the court ends or when proof of financial responsibility is provided,” Allard wrote. “Instead, the license remains ‘revoked’ until all the steps required for reinstatement have been taken and the license is reinstated.”
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
