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Out-of-state prior DUI costs: the prior you left in another state, priced in this one
Our out-of-state DUI guide prices a DUI that happens away from home — two courts, two licence systems. This page prices the mirror problem: a new DUI at home, and an old conviction somewhere else that the new state counts as a prior. Our lookback guide prices how long a prior counts; this page prices whether a foreign one counts at all, in the two states whose statutes state the rule most plainly.
California converts the conviction by statute
California Vehicle Code section 23626 is a conversion rule. A conviction of an offence in any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or Canada that, if committed in California, would be a violation of section 23152 or 23153, or of Penal Code section 191.5 or 192.5(a), is a conviction of those California provisions for the purposes of the Vehicle Code. The test the statute writes is equivalence of conduct — what the driver did, judged against the California offence — not identity of the other state's statute name, fine or procedures.
The consequence is arithmetic the reader can follow. Once converted, the out-of-state conviction enters California's prior-offence ladder inside the ten-year priorability window the lookback page prices, and the new case is sentenced at the second, third or felony tier it now occupies — with that tier's fine range, custody floor, programme length and licence term from our California breakdown. The out-of-state prior does not import the other state's prices; it imports only its counting effect, and the new state's prices are the ones that apply.
Equivalence is also where the rule stops. Published California case discussions of the conversion and compact rules turn on whether the other state's offence is substantially the same as California's — an offence from a state that punishes conduct California's DUI does not reach, such as a broader physical-control offence with no driving, may fail that test. This page states the statutory rule and its limit; whether a particular foreign conviction qualifies is a record-by-record question for the court in the new case, not a figure any guide can publish.
Texas counts the other state's offence by definition
Texas builds the same bridge inside a definition. Penal Code section 49.09(c)(1) defines an offence relating to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated to include, at subparagraph (F), an offence under the laws of another state that prohibits operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Section 49.09 then prices what counting does: one qualifying prior raises the new offence to a Class A misdemeanor with a minimum confinement term of 30 days, and two qualifying priors — or one prior intoxication manslaughter, including a substantially similar other-state offence under subsection (b)(1) — make it a third-degree felony, whose frame of two to ten years and a fine of up to $10,000 comes from Penal Code section 12.34 and is priced in our Texas breakdown. Texas publishes no lookback limit in section 49.09, so an old other-state conviction can count at full weight.
| DUI component | Published amount |
|---|---|
| California conversion rule (Veh. Code § 23626) | An out-of-state, territorial, District of Columbia, Puerto Rican or Canadian conviction for conduct that would violate § 23152 or 23153 if committed in California is treated as a conviction of those sections |
| California consequence of a counted prior | The new case is sentenced at the higher prior-offence tier inside the 10-year window; that tier's fine, custody, programme and licence components are priced in the California penalties breakdown |
| Texas counting rule (Penal Code § 49.09(c)(1)(F)) | An offence under another state's laws prohibiting operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated is an offence relating to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated |
| Texas, one counted prior (§ 49.09(a)) | The new offence is a Class A misdemeanor with a minimum confinement term of 30 days |
| Texas, two counted priors or a prior intoxication manslaughter (§ 49.09(b)) | Third-degree felony; the frame priced in the Texas breakdown is 2–10 years and a fine of up to $10,000 under § 12.34; § 49.09 states no lookback limit |
Sources: California Vehicle Code § 23626; Texas Penal Code §§ 49.09(a), (b), (c)(1)(F) and 12.34. 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 calculatorWhat the counting rules do not publish
Neither statute prices the proof. Establishing a foreign prior takes certified records from the convicting state, and the copying, certification and transmission charges of the holding court or agency are set by that holder, not by section 23626 or section 49.09 — described here, not priced. Nor do the statutes price the fight over equivalence: where a driver contends the foreign offence is broader than the new state's DUI, the cost is the ordinary motion practice of the new case, inside the attorney and court-cost layers priced elsewhere on this site.
A second boundary is worth stating because readers merge the two pages. The Driver License Compact and the home-state licence action priced on the out-of-state page are about your licence following an offence home. This page is about your record following you into a later case: the compact moves the information, but it is the new state's counting statute — 23626, 49.09, or their equivalents — that decides what the information does to the new sentence. A state can receive the record and still not count the conviction, if its equivalence test fails.
Finally, neither rule reaches backwards to reprice the old case. The foreign conviction's own fine was set by the foreign court when it was imposed; counting it in a new state changes only the new case's tier. Readers estimating exposure should therefore price the new case at its enhanced tier in the new state's breakdown, and treat the old case as a counting fact, not as a second bill.
Common questions
- Does an out-of-state DUI count as a prior in California?
- Yes, if the conduct would have violated Vehicle Code § 23152 or 23153 if committed in California. Section 23626 treats such a conviction — from another state, a territory, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or Canada — as a conviction of the California section.
- Does Texas count a DWI from another state?
- Yes. Penal Code § 49.09(c)(1)(F) includes an offence under another state's laws prohibiting operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in the definition that drives Texas enhancement, and § 49.09 states no lookback limit.
- What does a counted prior change?
- The tier of the new case. In Texas one prior makes the offence a Class A misdemeanor with a 30-day minimum confinement term, and two priors make it a third-degree felony. In California the new case takes the fine, custody, programme and licence terms of the higher tier in the California ladder.
Related cost guides: out-of-state DUI costs, DUI lookback period costs, second-offense DUI costs, third-offense DUI costs.
Sources: California Vehicle Code § 23626; Texas Penal Code § 49.09. 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.