(A) A person who forfeits bail posted for, is convicted of, or pleads guilty or nolo contendere in general sessions, municipal, or magistrates court to an offense which requires that his driver's license be revoked or suspended shall surrender immediately or cause to be surrendered his driver's license to the clerk of court or magistrate upon the verdict or plea. The defendant must be notified at the time of arrest of his obligation to bring, and surrender his license, if convicted, to the court or magistrate at the time of his trial, and if he fails to produce his license after conviction, he may be fined in an amount not to exceed two hundred dollars. If the defendant fails subsequently to surrender his license to the clerk or magistrate immediately after conviction, he must be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars.
(B) The Department of Motor Vehicles shall electronically receive disposition and license surrender information from the clerk of court or magistrate immediately after receipt. Along with the driver's license, the clerks and magistrates must give the department's agents tickets, arrest warrants, and other documents or copies of them, including any reinstatement fee paid at the time of the verdict, guilty plea, or plea of nolo contendere, as necessary for the department to process the revocation or suspension of the licenses. If the department does not collect the license surrender information and disposition immediately, the magistrate or clerk must forward the license surrender information, disposition, and other documentation to the department within five business days after receipt. A clerk or magistrate who wilfully fails or neglects to forward the driver's license and disposition as required in this section is liable to indictment and, upon conviction, must be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars.
(C) The department shall notify the defendant of the suspension or revocation. Except as provided in Section 56-5-2990, if the defendant surrendered his license to the magistrate or clerk immediately after conviction, the effective date of the revocation or suspension is the date of surrender. If the magistrate or clerk wilfully fails to electronically forward the disposition and license surrender information to the department within five business days, the suspension or revocation does not begin until the department receives and processes the license and ticket, provided that the end date of the term of suspension or revocation shall be calculated from the date of surrender and not the date the department receives and processes the ticket.
(D) If the defendant is already under suspension for a previous offense at the time of his conviction or plea, the court shall use its judicial discretion in determining if the period of suspension for the subsequent offense runs consecutively and commences upon the expiration of the suspension or revocation for the prior offense, or if the period of suspension for the subsequent offense runs concurrently with the suspension or revocation of the prior offense.
(E) If the defendant fails to surrender his license, the suspension or revocation operates as otherwise provided by law.
(F) If the defendant surrenders his license, upon conviction, and subsequently files a notice of appeal, the appeal acts as a supersedeas as provided in Section 56-1-430. Upon payment of a ten-dollar fee and presentment by the defendant of a certified or clocked-in copy of the notice of appeal, the department shall issue him a certificate which entitles him to operate a motor vehicle for a period of six months after the verdict or plea. The certificate must be kept in the defendant's possession while operating a motor vehicle during the six-month period, and failure to have it in his possession is punishable in the same manner as failure to have a driver's license in possession while operating a motor vehicle.
HISTORY: 1988 Act No. 532, Section 30; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1314; 1996 Act No. 459, Section 87; 1998 Act No. 379, Section 3; 1999 Act No. 100, Part II, Section 104; 2008 Act No. 201, Section 18, eff 12:00 p.m. February 10, 2009; 2016 Act No. 185 (H.3685), Section 4, eff January 1, 2017.