Compliance and Non-Compliance

IDCMP reports your compliance to the court and the DMV

New Hampshire requires the impaired driver care management program to report where you stand. When you meet the requirements, we send a completion report to your sentencing court and the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles (He-A 507.07(a)). When you do not, we are required to notify your sentencing court, your prosecutor, and the DMV that you are not in compliance — and to notify you in writing that we have done so (He-A 507.06(j)). This is not discretionary on our part. New Hampshire law requires it: RSA 265-A:40, II(e) requires an IDCMP to notify the Division of Motor Vehicles and the sentencing court when a client fails to comply with the service plan, and RSA 265-A:40, II(h) requires it to report monitoring results and completion to the sentencing court, the DMV, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The timeframes that determine compliance

Compliance in an IDCMP is measured against deadlines set by New Hampshire law, RSA 265-A:18 and He-A 507.01, and written into your court sentencing order. These are the ones that most often decide a case:

Intake and screening — within the timeframe in your court conviction paperwork, which is either 14 or 30 days from your conviction (He-A 507.01).

Substance use disorder evaluation, if one is required — no later than the 30th day after your conviction (He-A 507.02(f)).

Starting counseling or treatment — no later than 30 days after the requirements of your service plan are discussed with you (He-A 507.04(f)(2)).

Non-Compliance

Missing one of those timeframes is what puts a client out of compliance. The rules also define other things as non-compliance: more than one unexcused absence from a scheduled treatment or recovery appointment within any 30-day period; more than one unexcused absence from a scheduled case management meeting within any 30-day period; being under the influence at an appointment, an IDEP session or a case management meeting, or refusing to submit to testing when asked; and failing to remain abstinent when the court or your service plan requires it. (He-A 507.06(i))

The rules are specific about the details, and they are worth knowing before they matter:

Treatment or recovery services must begin no later than 30 days after the requirements of your service plan are discussed with you (He-A 507.04(f)(2)). Starting late is non-compliance on its own, separate from any missed appointment.
Impairment at an appointment, an IDEP session or a case management meeting must be confirmed and documented by a drug or alcohol screening. If there is reasonable suspicion that you are impaired and you decline screening, the rule presumes impairment.
If you refuse a drug or alcohol test, or do not appear for one within the required timeframe, the rule treats it as a positive test.
Where the court requires abstinence, any use is non-compliance. Where our service plan requires it, the IDCMP consults your treatment provider before deciding whether it must be reported as non-compliance.
Refusing to submit to drug or alcohol testing in a timely manner, when the court or your service plan requires testing, is non-compliance.
We monitor your compliance through case management meetings, and your service plan is reviewed and updated at least every 60 days (He-A 507.06(c)).

What does not count as non-compliance

An excused absence is not non-compliance, and we cannot charge you for one. The rules grant an excused absence only for a documented emergency situation beyond your control — which means a death in your immediate family, or a medical emergency involving you or your immediate family that prevents you from attending — or for unforeseen factors that prevent the IDCMP itself from keeping the scheduled appointment (He-A 507.08(a)). Documentation of an excused absence must be provided to us within 5 business days of the missed appointment (He-A 507.08(b)), and we document it in your record.

An absence with no granted excuse is different. The rules allow us to charge up to the full amount for an appointment or session missed without an excused absence, provided you were notified in writing of the appointment. If you think an absence should be excused, tell us and provide the documentation — the deadline for that is 5 business days (He-A 507.08(b)).

What non-compliance costs you: early reinstatement

If you are not in compliance with your IDCMP, you are not able to motion the court for early reinstatement of your driving privileges. You serve the full suspension.

New Hampshire sets a minimum loss of license, but the court has the authority under RSA 265-A:18, I(a)(6)(A) to reduce a period of suspension. For a first-offense DWI that means a 9-month loss of license, with the court able to reduce it — but not below 3 months. If you are fully in compliance with your IDCMP, you can file a motion asking the court to reduce your suspension to those 3 months and let you apply to the Division of Motor Vehicles for reinstatement (He-A 507.07(d)). If you are not in compliance, that option is closed to you and the full suspension stands. For an aggravated DWI the floor is 12 months, not 3.

The judge decides whether to grant a motion. Being in compliance makes you eligible to ask. It does not guarantee the court will reduce your suspension.

How your IDCMP can help you: the waiver of compliance

Falling behind on a timeframe does not always end the story, and this is the part most clients never hear about. New Hampshire's rules allow a waiver of compliance — and we pursue them for our clients regularly.

Talk to us in detail about what kept you from meeting the timeframe. We need to understand the circumstances and we need verification and records to determine whether a waiver applies to you.

Examples of situations where we have helped clients obtain a waiver:

being hospitalized for mental health, treatment or medical reasons
being incarcerated, whether related to this offense or other charges
the death of an immediate family member
severe illness of yourself or a family member

Here is how the process works:

We send you a form to document, in detail, the reason you are requesting a waiver.
We submit that form to the State of New Hampshire, Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services, whose IDCMP staff review it and determine whether your circumstances qualify you for a Waiver of Compliance from the State.
The State returns the waiver to us on state letterhead.
We transmit it to you through your secure client portal.

You can then use that waiver with your motion for early reinstatement and your compliance report, turning them in together to the court — and ask for early reinstatement as though you had always been in compliance.

The rule behind this is He-A 504.10, Waivers. It allows a waiver where strict adherence to the rules would be unduly onerous due to unique circumstances beyond the client's control, and requires the request to be made in writing by the IDCMP program administrator.

Read He-A 504.10 and the full adopted rule: DHHS He-A 500 - Impaired Driver Programs

If you were not in compliance with a timeframe, tell us what happened. Complete the waiver request below and we will review your circumstances.

Request a waiver review — I was not in compliance with the timeframes

If the waiver request does not open for you, call our front office at 603-998-4210 or email intake@crc-idcmp.com and we will start the request with you.

Prefer to talk it through? Call our front office at 603-998-4210 or email intake@crc-idcmp.com.

Please do not send medical records or other sensitive documents by email. If documentation is needed to support your request, we will tell you exactly what we need and provide a signed release of information so your records are handled confidentially.

Extenuating circumstances the rules already recognize

The rules name specific circumstances that extend a timeframe, and they are worth knowing even before you need them.

Your timeframes begin the day after your conviction, or the day after your release from the county correctional facility, whichever is later.

The department may approve an extension where one of these applies:

You were physically, medically or psychiatrically unable to comply because you were confined to an institution or incapacitated, documented by a medical doctor or an institution administrator.
The IDCMP was unable to schedule you within the timeframe, documented by the IDCMP — and you must take the next available opening.
After a screening or a substance use disorder evaluation was scheduled, you were unable to attend for documented reasons beyond your control, such as a death in your immediate family or a medical emergency involving you or your immediate family, and you were granted an excused absence (He-A 506.03(b)(3)).

It is the IDCMP's responsibility to request approval of these circumstances from the department, and any approval sets a new required timeframe for you to meet. If one of these applies to you, tell us — this is exactly the kind of situation we handle.

When your program ends, this is what we send you

When we complete you to the DMV and the court, you receive the following in your secure client portal — at the end of the program only:

A letter listing your dates in the program, for every component.
Your compliance report if you were eligible for one, or your Waiver of Compliance from the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services if you have one. If you were not eligible, or this was an older offense, there may be none.
A motion completed by IDCMP staff showing exactly how to fill out your motion, to turn in with your compliance report or waiver to your court — if you did not have an attorney.

If you had an attorney, you give your compliance report or waiver and the letter to your attorney, and your attorney files the motion for reinstatement for you.

See the motion form: NHJB-2820-D, Motion to Reduce License Suspension

If you stay out of compliance

The rules set out what happens next, and it is worth knowing before it does.

Within 6 months of a notice of non-compliance, if you begin, continue or return to treatment or recovery, we review your service plan and revise it as needed, and you continue — with no additional fee, though case management fees resume (He-A 507.06(k)).
If you do not begin, continue or return to treatment within 6 months of that notice, you must submit to a new substance use disorder evaluation at your own expense, and a new service plan must be developed, before treatment can start again (He-A 507.06(l)).
If an IDCMP staff member is required to attend a sentencing court proceeding as a result of a notice of non-compliance, the rule provides for a state-set fee of $130 for each day of attendance (He-A 507.06(m), with the fee set under He-A 505.01(b)(7)).

None of this is meant as a warning. It is the sequence, and knowing it early is what keeps it from happening.

Questions about your compliance?

If you are unsure whether you are on track, do not wait to find out. Ask us now, while there is still time to fix it.