Val Verde County ALR Hearing Guide

The ALR hearing request deadline is 15 days from the date your Notice of Suspension is served — handled centrally by DPS in Austin, not through any local office. Requests go by mail to the Enforcement and Compliance Service (P.O. Box 4040, Austin, TX 78765-4040), by fax to 512-424-2650, or by phone at 800-394-9913. There's no fee to request the hearing, though substantial reinstatement fees apply if the suspension is ultimately upheld. Hearings run through the State Office of Administrative Hearings, predominantly by phone or Zoom now rather than in person.

A real trap worth knowing: if you submitted to a blood draw rather than a breath test, the suspension notice doesn't go out until the state crime lab processes the sample, which can take weeks or months. The 15-day clock in that case starts from the mailing date of the eventual notice, not your arrest date — meaning your mailing address on file with DPS has to be current, and you need to check your mail daily once that window opens, since a default suspension is easy to trigger by missing the notice entirely.

For in-person services, Val Verde County does have its own office: Texas DPS Driver License Office – Del Rio, 2012 Veterans Blvd, phone (830) 703-1202.