Home › DUI evaluation and treatment costs
DUI evaluation and treatment costs: published program fees, and where no schedule exists
Almost every DUI sentence includes an alcohol or drug evaluation, and many include treatment the evaluation recommends. The evaluation is the cheap part — but it is also the gate: its recommendation sets the program length, and program length sets the bill. This page uses only published state program fee schedules, and says plainly where a state publishes lengths but not prices.
Florida: the DUI program publishes its fees
Florida's DUI programs are licensed and fee-regulated under Florida Administrative Code rule 15A-10, and the Florida DHSMV publishes the structure every convicted driver passes through. A first offender enrols in Level I DUI school — a 12-hour education course built around a substance-abuse evaluation given at intake. A repeat offender, or a first offender whose evaluation and record place them in the higher track, enrols in Level II — a 21-hour program. The standardised, DHSMV-published registration fees most recently published for Florida DUI programs are $330 for Level I and $495 for Level II; individual programs may add their own published charges for items such as rescheduling or records, and the evaluation is included in the program's regulated structure rather than sold as an open-market product.
The evaluation matters financially because of what it can trigger. Where the evaluator recommends treatment, completion of that treatment becomes a condition of completing the DUI program — and treatment is provided by separate licensed providers at their own published rates, not under the DUI program's $330 or $495 registration fee. Florida publishes no single statewide treatment price, because treatment runs from short outpatient counselling to residential care. This page therefore prices the evaluation-and-education layer from the DHSMV schedule and leaves treatment unpriced rather than estimate it — a gap we flag rather than fill, consistent with how our DUI classes guide treats program fees generally. What is certain is the enforcement side: a Florida license cannot be fully reinstated until the DUI program and any required treatment are completed, so the treatment bill, whatever it is, is not optional spending.
California: lengths are statutory, fees are provider schedules approved by DHCS
California DUI programs are licensed by the Department of Health Care Services under Health and Safety Code § 11836, and the program a driver must complete is set by the Vehicle Code. Under § 23538, a first offender whose blood-alcohol level was below 0.20 is referred to a program of at least three months; a first offender at 0.20 or higher, or who refused testing, is referred to a nine-month program; and the second-offender program under § 23542 runs 18 months. Those lengths — three, nine, eighteen months — are the cost drivers, because programs charge for enrolment and monthly participation.
California does not publish one statewide program price. Each licensed program files its fee schedule under the DHCS licensing framework, fees differ by county and provider, and programs must conduct a financial assessment for participants who cannot afford the standard fee, with reduced fees or payment terms based on ability to pay. Quoting a single "California DUI school price" would therefore be inventing a figure the state has not set. What can be stated from the published framework is the shape of the bill: a nine-month program bills roughly three times the participation period of a three-month program at the same provider, an 18-month program bills six times it, and the evaluation and intake are charged at enrolment under the provider's filed schedule. Readers should ask the program the court referred them to for its current filed fee schedule — that document, not a website average, is the authoritative price. Our California DUI costs page places the program in the full California stack.
| Evaluation / program layer | Published figure or rule |
|---|---|
| Florida Level I DUI program — 12 hours, incl. evaluation (FLHSMV / rule 15A-10) | $330 standard registration fee |
| Florida Level II DUI program — 21 hours, multiple offenders (FLHSMV / rule 15A-10) | $495 standard registration fee |
| Florida — treatment recommended by the evaluation | No statewide published price; charged by the licensed treatment provider; completion required for reinstatement |
| California — first offender, BAC below 0.20 (Veh. Code § 23538) | 3-month licensed program; fee per provider's DHCS-filed schedule |
| California — first offender, BAC 0.20+ or refusal (§ 23538) | 9-month licensed program; fee per provider's DHCS-filed schedule |
| California — second offender (§ 23542) | 18-month licensed program; fee per provider's DHCS-filed schedule; ability-to-pay assessment available |
| Texas — DWI education program (Code Crim. Proc. art. 42A.403) | 12-hour state-approved program required; fee set by the approved provider — no statewide published fee |
Sources: Florida DHSMV DUI program guidance and Florida Administrative Code rule 15A-10; California Vehicle Code §§ 23538, 23542 and Health and Safety Code § 11836 (DHCS DUI program licensing); Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42A.403. Last verified: October 2026.
The fine is one line in a longer stack — court costs, program fees, interlock, supervision and reinstatement all bill separately. Price the layers that apply to your case in the calculator.
Open the DUI cost calculatorTexas: a 12-hour requirement with no state fee schedule
Texas illustrates the third pattern. Article 42A.403 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires a person convicted of a first DWI to complete a 12-hour DWI education program approved under the state's framework, and failure to complete it within the period the statute sets results in license revocation until it is completed. Repeat offenders are directed to a DWI intervention program of at least 32 hours. But Texas publishes no statewide fee for either program — approved providers set and publish their own charges locally. The cost consequence a reader can rely on is structural: the education program is a reinstatement gate, so its fee is unavoidable, and it is small next to the fines on a Texas DWI — the $2,000 maximum court fine and the $3,000 state fine on a first conviction set out in our Texas DUI costs page and in the Texas component breakdown.
A note on evaluations outside these programs: courts also order standalone substance-abuse evaluations in some states and probation systems, performed by approved evaluators at locally set fees. Where no state schedule publishes the evaluator's charge, this site does not estimate it — the same rule we apply to treatment. If your sentencing paperwork names an evaluator or program, its published fee schedule is the figure to budget from.
Common questions
- Is the evaluation included in DUI school, or billed separately?
- In Florida it is built into the Level I and Level II program structure and its standard registration fee. In California the intake and assessment are charged under the licensed program's filed fee schedule. In neither state is the evaluation a separate court fine.
- What if I cannot afford the California program fee?
- Licensed programs must offer a financial assessment; participants who qualify pay reduced fees or extended payment terms based on ability to pay. Ask for the assessment at enrolment — it is part of the DHCS framework, not a favour.
- Does treatment cost more than the program?
- It can, and no honest single figure exists: Florida and Texas publish no statewide treatment price, and California treatment outside the DUI program is provider-priced. What is published is that required treatment must be completed before the program — and usually the license — can be cleared.
Related cost guides: DUI classes and program fees, DUI diversion program costs, Florida DUI costs, and California DUI costs.
Sources: Florida DHSMV DUI program guidance; Fla. Admin. Code R. 15A-10; California Vehicle Code §§ 23538, 23542; California Health and Safety Code § 11836; Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42A.403. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.