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Hawaii DUI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line

Our Hawaii DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 291E-61 and 291E-61.5 for a first, second and third conviction, the mandatory minimums, the restricted-license and interlock route, and the reinstatement charges the state actually publishes — with no added-up total.

The first offence, component by component

Hawaii calls the offence OVUII — operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant — and § 291E-61 builds the first-offence sentence as a menu with mandatory programme and license components wrapped around it. On the current published summaries of the 2026 statute, a first offence carries a license revocation of one year to eighteen months and one or more of the following: 72 hours of community service work, two to five days of imprisonment, or a fine of $250 to $1,000. Every first offender must also complete a fourteen-hour minimum substance abuse rehabilitation programme, including education and counselling, and drive only with an ignition interlock installed during the revocation period under an interlock permit. The programme is delivered by a certified provider and the device is leased from an approved vendor, so both are real costs of a Hawaii first offence that the statute requires but does not price — they are described on this page, not tabled as state charges.

Hawaii's high-intoxication tier is defined at 0.15, and it is priced as an add-on rather than a separate offence. For a first offence, a highly intoxicated driver faces an additional mandatory 48 hours of imprisonment and an additional mandatory revocation period of six months, and the total revocation must be at least eighteen months. A passenger under fifteen adds a further $500 fine and an additional 48 hours of imprisonment, with a revocation of at least two years on the published summaries. Those add-ons matter for cost purposes because they extend the interlock-permit period month by month: every extra month of revocation is another month of device lease and monitoring billed by the vendor, even though the statute itself only sets the time, not the monthly price.

Second and third offences, and what escalates

A second offence with a prior conviction inside ten years moves every component up: a substance abuse programme of at least 36 hours, a revocation of two to three years, a fine of $1,000 to $3,000, and either five to thirty days of imprisonment or at least 240 hours of community service work, on the current published summaries of § 291E-61. At 0.15 or above, a second offence adds a mandatory ten days of imprisonment and a further year of revocation, taking the total to at least three years. The third tier leaves § 291E-61 altogether: habitually operating a vehicle under the influence is a class C felony under § 291E-61.5, carrying up to five years of imprisonment including a mandatory ten days, five years of probation, a revocation of three to five years, a fine of $2,000 to $5,000, mandatory substance abuse counselling and driver education, and forfeiture of the vehicle used in the offence. A highly intoxicated habitual offender faces the class B felony tier, identified here by classification only.

Refusal, the restricted license, and reinstatement charges

Hawaii runs an administrative revocation alongside the criminal case under § 291E-41, and for a first case it can be the longer of the two license actions. On the published summaries, a test failure brings an administrative revocation of one year for a first offence, two years for a second and four years for a third or subsequent offence, while a refusal brings two years for a first offence, four years for a second and eight years for a third — the refusal ladder is exactly double the failure ladder at every step. Driving during any of these periods is only lawful on an ignition interlock permit in an equipped vehicle, and drivers under eighteen are not eligible for that permit at all. Reinstatement requires the revocation to be served or the interlock-permit route to be completed together with the rehabilitation programme; Hawaii publishes no single DUI reinstatement tariff separate from its ordinary licensing charges, so this page prices the statutory fines and periods and describes the programme, permit and device components rather than inventing a restoration figure.

Sources: Haw. Rev. Stat. § 291E-61 (first, second and highly-intoxicated tiers, as summarised in current 2026 references to the Hawaii State Legislature text); § 291E-61.5 (habitual felony); § 291E-41 (administrative revocation and interlock permits). Last verified: October 2026.

What this state does not publish as a single figure

Hawaii court costs and assessments are set by the court and the county or municipality where the case is heard, not by Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 291E-61 and 291E-61.5, and no single published DUI amount covers them. The evaluation, education or treatment components described above, any probation or programme supervision, and an interlock provider's installation, monthly lease, calibration and removal charges are all billed outside the statute's fine and revocation figures. Those components are described as requirements on this page rather than priced as state charges. There is no published Hawaii figure for the effect of a DUI on car insurance prices, and none is estimated here — insurance is mentioned only where a filing requirement such as SR-22 proof of financial responsibility is itself a reinstatement component.

There is no added-up statewide total on this page for the same reason: the published components above are the figures the statute, the licensing agency or the court schedule actually sets, and the remaining components are billed case by case. Adding them together would produce a number no Hawaii authority has published. Use the table to price the components that apply to a specific case, and use our first-offense cost guide, second-offense guide and third-offense guide for the national pattern each component follows.

Common questions

What is the fine for a first Hawaii DUI?

$250 to $1,000 on the current published summaries of § 291E-61, imposed as one or more of a fine, 72 hours of community service or two to five days of imprisonment — alongside the mandatory 14-hour rehabilitation programme and a revocation of at least one year.

How much worse is a refusal than a failed test in Hawaii?

On the administrative track, exactly twice as long at every step: a first refusal revokes for two years against one year for a first failure, and a third refusal reaches eight years.

When does a Hawaii DUI become a felony?

At the habitual tier under § 291E-61.5 — two prior convictions inside ten years — a class C felony with up to five years, a $2,000–$5,000 fine and a three-to-five-year revocation.

Sources: Haw. Rev. Stat. § 291E-61 (first-offence programme, revocation and fine/community-service/imprisonment menu, 0.15 highly-intoxicated add-ons, under-15 passenger add-on, and the second-offence tier — Hawaii State Legislature, as summarised in current 2026 statutory references); Haw. Rev. Stat. § 291E-61.5 (habitual class C felony and vehicle forfeiture); Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 291E-41 and 291E-44.5 (administrative failure/refusal revocations and interlock permits). 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.