Yes, you can refuse, and no officer will physically force air into a breath machine. Refusing is not a separate crime in Washington. What it is, under RCW 46.20.308, is a decision that triggers a longer license revocation than a failed test, hands the prosecutor evidence to use against you at trial, and pushes a first offense into the higher penalty tier. The Rossback Firm handles DUI cases from downtown Aberdeen, and the refusal question comes up constantly, usually after the choice has already been made.

Is refusing a breath test against the law here?

No. Washington treats a refusal as a civil and evidentiary consequence rather than a criminal charge. You will not be prosecuted for the act of declining.

The legal framework is implied consent. By operating a vehicle in this state you are deemed to have consented to a breath test when an officer has reasonable grounds to believe you were driving or in actual physical control while impaired. Declining is an option the statute expressly preserves, and the officer is required to tell you what it costs before you decide. RCW 46.20.308 spells out those warnings: refusal means revocation or denial of your license for at least one year, and your refusal can be used against you in a criminal trial.

What does refusing cost you at the Department of Licensing?

A first refusal within seven years brings a one year revocation under RCW 46.20.3101. A second or subsequent refusal within seven years, or a first refusal where there has already been an administrative action in that window, brings two years, or until the driver turns 21, whichever is longer.

Compare that to taking the test and failing. A first administrative action based on a result of 0.08 or more is a 90 day suspension. A second or subsequent one within seven years is a two year revocation. For a driver with no history, the gap is 90 days against a full year, and the refusal revocation applies regardless of what your actual alcohol concentration was.

The thresholds that trigger administrative action are 0.08 for drivers 21 and over, 0.02 for drivers under 21, and a THC concentration of 5.00 in blood for adults. Either way, the temporary license you are handed at release runs 30 days, and contesting the action requires a written hearing request within seven days along with a $375 fee, which the department can waive for someone who is indigent.

Does refusing help you at trial?

Usually not. Prosecutors are allowed to tell the jury you refused, and they routinely argue that a driver who declined did so because he knew he would fail. The implied consent warnings themselves advise that refusal may be used in a criminal trial.

What refusing does accomplish is denying the state a number. Without a breath result, the prosecution has to prove impairment through the officer’s observations, driving behavior, field sobriety performance, and any video. Some cases genuinely get harder for the state without a test. Plenty of others do not, particularly where there is a collision, poor driving, or video that speaks for itself.

How does a refusal change the criminal sentence?

It moves a first offense into the same tier as a result of 0.15 or higher. Under the sentencing structure in RCW 46.61.5055, a first offense with a result under 0.15 carries a mandatory minimum of 24 consecutive hours in jail, or 15 days of electronic home monitoring in lieu of jail. With a refusal, the mandatory minimum becomes two consecutive days in jail or 30 days of electronic home monitoring, and the minimum fine goes up as well.

The license consequence on conviction follows the same pattern. A first offense conviction with a result under 0.15 brings a 90 day suspension. With a result at or above 0.15 it becomes a one year revocation, and where the test was refused, two years. Ignition interlock requirements attach either way.

There is one piece of relief built in. RCW 46.20.3101(4) gives day for day credit against the administrative action for time already served under a suspension arising from the criminal conviction in the same incident, so the two do not simply stack on top of each other.

Refusals also close a door that would otherwise be open. The license relief that comes with a deferred prosecution under chapter 10.05 RCW does not apply to a suspension based on a breath test refusal.

Can the police take your blood anyway?

Often, yes. The implied consent statute governs breath testing. Blood is a different matter, and nothing in RCW 46.20.308 prevents an officer from obtaining blood under a search warrant, a valid waiver, exigent circumstances, or other authority of law.

Telephonic warrants are routine. A driver who refuses the breath test in a case involving a suspected drug impairment, a serious collision, or an injury should expect a warrant application rather than the end of the investigation. The result is sometimes the worst of both outcomes: a refusal revocation on the license side and a blood result on the criminal side.

What about the roadside handheld device and the field sobriety tests?

Those are separate from the evidentiary breath test and separate from implied consent. The small handheld unit an officer offers at the roadside is a screening device used to help establish probable cause, not the machine that produces the result used in court. Field sobriety tests are voluntary as well.

Declining roadside screening does not itself trigger the license revocation described above, which applies to the evidentiary test requested after a lawful arrest. Whether declining is wise depends on the circumstances, and an officer who has already decided to arrest will usually do so regardless.

Can you talk to a lawyer before deciding?

Yes, and this is the most useful thing most people never learn. Under the court rules governing courts of limited jurisdiction, a person in custody has the right to access an attorney as soon as feasible, and in practice that includes before deciding whether to submit to the evidentiary breath test. Officers are supposed to provide a phone and a reasonable opportunity to place the call.

A few minutes with a defense attorney at that moment is worth far more than hours of research afterward. The lawyer can ask about the circumstances of the stop, the existence of prior offenses, and whether a commercial license is involved, all of which change the calculation.

What The Rossback Firm reviews after a refusal

The first thing worth examining is whether the warnings were given correctly. The statute requires specific advice, and a misstated or incomplete warning is one of the recognized grounds for rescinding a revocation at the administrative hearing. The lawfulness of the arrest and whether the officer had reasonable grounds are also squarely within the hearing’s scope.

From there the questions are practical. Was a blood warrant obtained, and does the draw hold up? Is the client eligible for an ignition interlock license so driving can continue while the revocation runs? Did anything in the encounter get recorded? A refusal narrows some options and leaves others fully intact.

Refusing a breath test in Washington is legal, and it is also expensive: a one year revocation instead of 90 days on a first offense, refusal evidence at trial, and a first offense sentenced in the same tier as a high test result. Whether the tradeoff ever makes sense depends on facts that differ from one arrest to the next. The Rossback Firm represents drivers in Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Montesano, and across the surrounding counties, handles both the licensing action and the criminal case, and can tell you what a refusal actually means for your situation. If you refused a test recently, the seven day hearing deadline is running, and that call should not wait.