Alaska SR-22 Insurance: Who Needs a Filing and for How Long
Yes — Alaska uses the SR-22. Form: SR-22 (certificate of insurance). How long it stays on file: 3 years — but 5 to 20 years, or life, after a DUI.
- Used in this state
- Yes
- Form
- SR-22 (certificate of insurance)
The statute does not use the term. It says proof may be furnished "by filing with the department the written certificate of an insurance carrier" (AS 28.20.410). DMV calls that document an SR-22. A non-owner SR-22 is available if you do not own a car.
- How long it must stay on file
- 3 years
Three years is the ordinary term: three years from the accident for a crash-related suspension (AS 28.20.260(a)(2)), three years after a mandatory-insurance suspension ends (AS 28.22.061(b)), and the department may not release the filing until three years have passed clean (AS 28.20.540(a)(1)). Drunk driving is far longer — 5 years for a first conviction, 10 for a second, 20 for a third, and for as long as the person is licensed after a fourth (AS 28.20.230(c)). For a suspension over an unpaid crash judgment, SB 239 (ch. 39 SLA 2026) set a new ladder effective September 22, 2026: 1 year for the first, 3 years for the second, 10 years for the third, and for as long as the person is licensed after a fourth.
- What triggers it
- Driving without the liability insurance AS 28.22.011 requires · A crash causing injury, death, or more than $501 of damage to one person's property, if you cannot prove you were covered · Driving under the influence, or refusing a chemical test · An unpaid judgment arising out of a crash · Conviction of, or bail forfeiture for, certain motor vehicle offenses · Conviction for driving while your license is suspended or revoked
- If coverage lapses
- Driving privileges are suspended until new proof is filed
A certified insurer must notify DMV whenever the policy is cancelled, terminated or lapses. When the filing no longer serves its purpose the department must demand other proof and suspend the license until it arrives (AS 28.20.520). No license may be issued or reinstated to anyone required to furnish proof who has not done so (AS 28.15.031(b)(7)).
- Reinstatement fee
- $100
$100 for one non-DUI administrative action in the previous 10 years. It rises to $250 for two, $200 for a single DUI or test-refusal revocation, and $500 for two or more of those (AS 28.15.271(b)(3)).
Alaska requires 3 years — the highest of the 37 jurisdictions on this site. The range runs from 1 year to 3 years.
How Alaska compares with every other state
Every statute cited for Alaska
What changed
September 22, 2026
An unpaid crash judgment no longer means an SR-22 for life
Until this year, AS 28.20.330(b) said that a driver suspended for an unsatisfied crash judgment had to keep proof of financial responsibility on file "during the period the person has a license or nonresident's operating privilege" — in practice, forever. SB 239 (ch. 39 SLA 2026), signed June 24, 2026, replaced that with a ladder: one year from the date the judgment is stayed or satisfied for a first suspension, three years for a second, 10 years for a third, and only on a fourth or later suspension does the filing run for as long as the person is licensed. The Act applies to suspensions that happened before as well as after it took effect, and it orders every insurance company doing business in Alaska to notify affected customers within six months. Section 3 carried no effective-date clause, so under AS 01.10.070(b) it took effect at 12:01 a.m. on the ninetieth day after signature, September 22, 2026. The Alaska Statutes text published on akleg.gov still shows the old lifetime wording, so the enrolled bill is the only place the current rule can be read.
Enrolled SB 239 (ch. 39 SLA 2026), secs. 3, 5, 6 — Alaska State Legislature
Why the rule looks like this
- What Changed in 2026Liability minimums doubled in Hawaii, two states dropped pure comparative fault, New Hampshire stopped inspecting cars, and three crash reporting thresholds moved — a dated account of the 2026 changes, and the ones already signed for 2027 and beyond.
- The Fine Is the Cheapest PartA first-offense fine for driving uninsured runs from $30 in Florida to a $1,500 floor in Delaware — but South Carolina's $100 fine arrives with a $700 reinstatement fee, and the reinstatement is usually the bigger number.
- The Form Some States Do Not UseAn SR-22 is a certificate, not a policy — and in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina and Michigan the form does not exist at all.
More on Alaska
Checked against the primary sources above on September 30, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.