The Oregon DUII diversion program is a one-year alternative to a criminal DUII conviction: you plead guilty or no contest, the court holds off on entering that plea as a judgment, and if you finish every condition the court sets, the charge is dismissed with prejudice. You can use it only once every fifteen years, and a single misstep can convert your plea into a permanent conviction. Below is what qualifies you, how to get in, what the year requires, what it costs, and what still follows you after you finish.
Who Qualifies
Oregon law lists specific eligibility conditions in ORS 813.215, and you must satisfy all of them. You sign a sworn statement to that effect when you file.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 813.215 – Eligibility for Diversion
- You did not hold a commercial driver license on the date of the offense and were not driving a commercial motor vehicle at the time.
- You have no DUII conviction and no completed DUII diversion within the fifteen years before the current offense date.
- The current incident did not involve an accident causing injury to anyone other than you, or the death of any person.
- You have no pending charge, anywhere in the country, for aggravated vehicular homicide, murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, or assault arising from driving a motor vehicle.
- You have no DUII-type charge pending in any other jurisdiction.
Miss one item and you are out. There is no partial eligibility.
How to File, and the 30-Day Deadline
You file a court form called the Petition and Agreement to DUII Diversion, available through the Oregon Judicial Department website or your local circuit court clerk. It asks for basic identifying information and the case number for your DUII charge, and it must be filed within 30 days of your first court appearance (arraignment). A judge has discretion to accept a late filing if you show good cause, but don’t rely on it: miss the window without leave of court and diversion is off the table.2Oregon Judicial Department. Sherman County Circuit Court – DUII Diversion
The filing fee is $490.3Oregon Judicial Department. 2026 Circuit Court Fee Schedule If you can’t afford it, ask for a fee waiver or payment plan at the time you submit the petition; the judge decides based on your finances.
What You Are Agreeing To
The petition is not just an application. Under ORS 813.200, it contains a signed guilty or no-contest plea to the DUII charge. The court accepts that plea but withholds a judgment of conviction while diversion runs. You also agree to complete a substance abuse screening, do whatever treatment the screening recommends at your own expense, stay off all intoxicants for the diversion period, and keep the court updated on your address. The petition waives your double jeopardy rights, so if diversion fails and your plea is entered, you can’t argue you have already been punished for the same conduct.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 813 – Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants
When the judge signs the petition, it becomes your diversion agreement. The DUII prosecution is stayed for one year, and the court notifies the Oregon Department of Transportation within 48 hours so the DMV can note the diversion on your driving record.
What You Have to Do During the Diversion Year
The one-year clock starts when the judge grants the petition. Several obligations run through it, and the court monitors them.
Screening and Treatment
Your first task is a diagnostic assessment with a court-approved screening agency. The assessor decides whether you have a substance abuse problem and at what level. Recommendations run from basic alcohol education to intensive outpatient therapy. You pay the screening agency directly and pay for the treatment yourself. Basic education programs may run a few hundred dollars; intensive outpatient can reach several thousand.
Ignition Interlock Device
Under ORS 813.602, the court must order an ignition interlock device (IID) in any vehicle you drive if your breath or blood test showed a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher, you refused the test, or your BAC was above 0.00 but below 0.08 with evidence of another intoxicant. If your BAC was below 0.08 with no other intoxicant, the court has discretion but is not required to order an IID. A medical exemption exists in limited circumstances.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 813.602 – Circumstances Under Which Ignition Interlock Device Required
You pay for the device. Monthly lease and monitoring runs roughly $70 to $150, with additional calibration charges possible depending on the vendor. Over a full year, expect $900 to $2,000 for the IID alone. Violating the IID condition is a Class A traffic violation on top of potentially ending your diversion.
Complete Abstinence
No alcohol, no marijuana, no controlled substances during the diversion period unless a physician has prescribed them. The court may order random testing. A single positive result, a new DUII arrest, or even an open-container violation during the year can trigger a show-cause hearing.
Victim Impact Panel
In counties that operate a victim impact program, the court may require you to attend a session where people affected by impaired drivers speak. ORS 813.235 gives judges discretion to impose it where a program exists.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 813 – Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants Attendance fees are typically modest.
Diversion Does Not Save Your License
This is the point people most often misunderstand. Oregon’s implied consent law triggers an administrative license suspension through the DMV that is independent of the criminal case. The suspension is based on what happened at the traffic stop, not on what the court does with the charge.
If you took a breath or blood test and the result was at or above the legal limit, your license faces a 90-day administrative suspension. If you refused, it’s a one-year suspension. Both go up sharply if you have any prior DUII conviction, diversion, or implied consent suspension within the previous five years: a BAC failure suspension rises to one year, and a refusal suspension rises to three.6Oregon Department of Transportation. Oregon Suspension/Revocation/Cancellation Guide
You can request a DMV hearing to contest the administrative suspension, but that hearing is separate from your DUII case. Finishing diversion and getting the criminal charge dismissed does not shorten or undo the DMV suspension. Two tracks, running in parallel.
What Diversion Actually Costs
The $490 filing fee is the starting point. Realistic totals over the year include:
- Court filing fee: $490
- Substance abuse screening: often $100 to $200
- Treatment: a few hundred dollars for education-only programs, several thousand for intensive outpatient
- Ignition interlock device: roughly $900 to $2,000 over twelve months
- Victim impact panel: typically under $50 where required
- Court-appointed attorney fees where applicable, as set by the court
None of that includes insurance. After a DUII arrest, auto premiums commonly rise 70 to 150 percent whether you complete diversion or are convicted. You should also expect to carry an SR-22 filing with the DMV during your suspension.
Getting the Charge Dismissed
Dismissal is not automatic. Once the one-year diversion period ends, you file a motion asking the judge to dismiss the DUII charge with prejudice, and you serve a copy on the district attorney or city attorney, who has the right to contest it. If the court finds you completed every condition, it enters the order of dismissal and the charge cannot be refiled.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 813 – Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants File promptly so you control the timeline.
What Happens If Diversion Fails
If you violate a condition, the court issues an order to show cause. If you don’t appear, or if the judge finds by a preponderance of evidence that you broke the terms, the court terminates diversion and enters the guilty or no-contest plea you signed at the outset. You are then sentenced on the DUII, though the judge may credit partial completion of your conditions.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 813 – Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants
A first-time DUII conviction in Oregon carries a minimum fine of $1,000 (or $2,000 depending on your BAC level), a minimum of 48 hours in jail or 80 hours of community service, and a one-year court-ordered license suspension on top of any DMV administrative suspension already running. Maximum penalties reach $6,250 in fines and 364 days in county jail. Everything you already spent on diversion is gone, and the sentence still comes.
What Stays on Your Record After Success
A successful diversion dismisses the charge, but it does not erase the arrest. Under Oregon law, DUII-related offenses are not eligible for expungement. Your criminal record will show that you were arrested and charged and that the charge was dismissed through diversion, and the DMV keeps its own notation on your driving history. A thorough background check should label the disposition as dismissed rather than convicted, though court systems sometimes lag in updating records after a dismissal.
The practical effect: any future DUII arrest within fifteen years of the current offense date disqualifies you from a second diversion, and the DMV uses the diversion record when calculating longer suspension periods for future implied consent violations.
Non-Citizens: A Serious Warning
If you are not a U.S. citizen, diversion is not the safe harbor it can look like. Federal immigration law defines “conviction” differently from Oregon criminal law. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a conviction exists for immigration purposes whenever a person enters a guilty or no-contest plea and the court orders any form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on liberty, even where the state court withholds a formal judgment.7Legal Information Institute. 8 USC 1101(a)(48) – Definition of Conviction
Oregon’s diversion requires exactly that: a guilty or no-contest plea followed by court-ordered conditions like treatment, abstinence, and often an IID. USCIS guidance indicates that this kind of arrangement can qualify as a conviction for immigration purposes even if the state later dismisses the charge.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Volume 12 – Citizenship and Naturalization, Part F – Good Moral Character, Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors A successful Oregon diversion could still surface as a conviction in deportation proceedings, visa applications, or naturalization interviews. Talk to an immigration attorney before entering any plea, including one tied to diversion.