What Is the Bureau of Administrative Reviews?

The Bureau of Administrative Reviews (BAR) is a department of the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle Department (FLHSMV), commonly referred to as the DMV. It primarily holds hearings in DUI cases regarding the suspension of a driver’s license and whether or not a hardship license will be issued.

Locations of the Bureau of Administrative Review

Although there used to be an office of the Bureau of Administrative Reviews in each county, due to budget cuts, there are now only 8 offices in the State of Florida.  These offices are located as follows:

Bureau of Administrative Review Forms

To Request a Formal or Informal Review Hearing you must fill out HSMV Form 78065.  When you submit this form (if eligible) you will be issued a 42-day temporary driving permit.

To Request an Eligibility Review for a Hardship license you must fill out HSMV Form 72034.  When you submit this form, you waive your right to a formal review hearing.

To determine which office of the Bureau of Administrative Reviews applies to your case, click here, then click on the county in which your DUI occurred.

Central Florida Office of the Bureau of Administrative Reviews

In Central Florida (Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Osceola and Lake Counties) you can request a hearing electronically by faxing the Orlando office of the BAR at 407-445-5584 or by emailing your application to them at orlandobar@flhsmv.gov.

Formal Review Requests HSMV Form 78065.

Informal Review Requests HSMV Form 78065. (We never recommend this option)

Review Hearing Waiver HSMV Form 72034. (1^st time DUI only) This waives your right to a formal review hearing.

The Bureau of Administrative Reviews Needs to be Fixed

In 2018 a report was released regarding the Bureau of Administrative Reviews.  The report was designed to propose recommendations for the reorganization of the BAR for both cost savings and effectiveness.

Some of the findings of the report are very interesting and have resulted in an incredible backlog of Formal Review Hearings.  In one recent case, our client’s hearing was continued by the BAR 4 times for a total of more than 6 months due to no hearing officer being available to conduct the hearing.  The report found that there were too many hearing officers, with a daily total of 1.32 to 3.1 hearings held by each officer a day.  Further, since 2014 the report found that an average of 3,325 fewer hearings were happening each year.

Every attorney who has ever had a hearing in front of a hearing officer at the Bureau of Administrative Reviews could tell you what the report found. According to the report, hiring and training are inadequate. “A high level of legal understanding is needed for all employees; including secretaries who explain BAR procedures to drivers. The majority of personnel have no background in judicial processes or prior legal experience.”

The report also found that hearing officer performance was poor. “Inadequate training has caused a lack of understanding of both the law and the procedure. The writ of certiorari data revealed a pattern of errors made by hearing officers. Of the 713 petitions filed from 2014 through 2016 that requested a judicial review of a DHSMV order, 81.2% arose from a BAR review for DUI DUBAL or Refusal.”

In the 141 petitions granted, settled, or remanded from 2014 through 2016, the circuit court judges repeatedly offered similar reasons for their decisions in the orders:

• “Hearing Officer was wrong about the law’s requirements, which resulted in Petitioner’s being denied due process”;
• “Hearing officer failed to observe the essential requirements of the law”;
• “A finding that there was substantial competent evidence to uphold a license suspension was not supported”;
• “Hearing Officer’s interpretation of the statute was clearly erroneous, which resulted in a miscarriage of justice” and;
• “Nothing in the record supports the hearing officer’s conclusion.”

Katz & Phillips, P.A. Cares About Your Rights – Fights for Free to Fix BAR Errors

We have been telling clients since we opened our firm that when you request a Formal Review Hearing being right about the law does not always matter.  In fact, without additional charge, we have appealed the Bureau of Administrative Review Hearing Officer’s rulings numerous times for our clients who were the victim of untrained or poorly trained hearing officer’s decisions.  Unfortunately, when you request a formal review hearing we cannot guarantee a win no matter how sure we are of the legal argument due to the poor training and lack of legal education of most of the hearing officers.  However, the report did recommend that the hearings be conducted only by attorneys in the future, so hopefully, the results will begin to be more equitable.

An Experienced Orlando Attorney Can Help Fight for You In Front of the Bureau of Administrative Reviews

An Experienced DUI Defense Attorney can help guide you in deciding whether or not to request a formal review hearing or waive your right to one based on the individual circumstances of your case and your life.  Call the Board Certified DUI Defense Experts at Katz & Phillips, P.A. today and we will be happy to discuss your options with you.

To review the full report, click here.