What laws could negatively affect me if I am trying to get (or keep) a California driver license?

Several laws and policies, explained below, may affect your ability to get or keep a California driver license.

National Driver Register (NDR)[177]

When you apply for a California driver license, the DMV will check to see whether your name is listed in the NDR’s Problem Driver Pointer System.[178] The NDR database contains information about all drivers who have had their licenses denied, revoked, or suspended, or who have been convicted of serious traffic violations such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.[179] The NDR has information on drivers from all 50 states.

If your name appears in the NDR database, the DMV will investigate the reason and decide whether or not to issue you a California driver license. If your license was suspended or revoked in another state, the DMV will not issue you a California driver license until you fulfill the conditions of suspension or revocation in the other state (including paying all fines and reinstatement fees).[180]

How do I find out if my name is in the NDR database?

You can find out if your name is in the NDR database and check your driver status for free by sending a request letter to the NDR.[181] Although the database does not contain details about your driving record (i.e., it will not tell you why your license was suspended), it will tell you the status of your driver license and the state where any problem occurred (called the “State-of-Record”).[182] If you already know the state in which your offense occurred, it may be faster and easier to contact that state’s DMV agency directly for information.

To check your NDR status, write and send a notarized letter (also called a “privacy act request”) to the NDR, stating that you would like a NDR file check. Be sure to include your full legal name, date of birth, gender, height, weight, eye color, and your previous driver license number and state (if you know them); your Social Security Number is optional.[183] If your name is in the NDR database, your driver license may have been suspended, cancelled, revoked, or denied because of a serious traffic violation.[184]

What can I do if my name is in the NDR database?

Once you know where the problem occurred in, you must contact that state’s DMV agency directly to find out how to fix the issue and reinstate your license.[185] You may need to request a copy of your driving record from that state to learn why your license was suspended or revoked.[186] If you think the NDR database is incorrect, you still need to contact the state DMV agency where the problem supposedly occurred. You need to resolve the error directly with that agency before the NDR can correct or delete your record.[187]

Driver License Compact (DLC)

The DLC is an agreement among most states, including California, to share driver records and information about traffic violations.[188] When you apply for a California driver license, the DMV will check to see if you ever had a driver license in another state.[189] If your license from another state was suspended, the DMV will not issue a new license to you until the suspension period is over.[190] If your license from another state was revoked, the DMV will not issue a new license to you until the revocation period is over or one year has passed since the revocation (whichever comes first).[191]

In addition, the DLC requires each state to enforce any traffic convictions that happened in other states — including by suspending or revoking your license for serious violations. For example, if you have a California driver license, but you were convicted of a DUI in another state, the state where your DUI occurred will report the conviction to the California DMV. The California DMV will then penalize you for the violation — possibly by suspending or revoking your California driver license — as if the violation had occurred locally.[192] The conviction will also appear on your California driving record.[193]

If you want to appeal your license suspension for an out-of-state traffic conviction, you must follow California’s appeal procedures.[194] In general, you have to show that the other state’s DUI conviction is not the same as California’s DUI laws, or that the conviction was invalid for some other reason.[195]

Nonresident Violator Compact (NRVC)[196] (not yet in CA)

The NRVC is an agreement among most U.S. states to enforce out-of-state traffic violations. If you get an out-of-state ticket and then fail to pay the fine or fail to appear in court, the state where you got the ticket will tell your home state (where your driver license is from). Your home state can then suspend your license based on your failure to comply with the out-of-state ticket.

Currently, California is not part of the NRVC, so failing to comply with an out-of-state ticket may not affect your California driver license.[197] (The California DMV can still penalize you for the traffic violation that caused your out-of-state ticket — just not for your failure to pay the ticket or appear in court.) On the other hand, if your driver license is from another state, but you receive a ticket in California, you may have to pay the traffic fine or post bail immediately (or risk arrest if you cannot pay right away), and/or you may lose the right to drive in California.[198]

If your right to drive in California has been suspended or revoked, but your driver license is from another state, you can use Form DL 300, “California Proof Requirements for Non-Residents,” to prove that you have the ability to pay and/or car insurance (called “financial responsibility”), and you can request that your California driving privileges be restored. The form is available online at http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/forms/dl/dl300.pdf.

Driver License Agreement[199] (not yet in CA)

The Driver License Agreement combines the DLC and NRVC into a single agreement, and increases enforcement of out-of-state traffic violations, making the rules stricter and more severe.[200] However, this agreement is still very new and doesn’t apply in most states (including California).[201]

  1. 177

    49 U.S.C. § 30301 et seq.; 23 C.F.R. § 1327.1 et seq.

  2. 178

    49 U.S.C. § 30305(a).

  3. 179

    49 U.S.C. §§ 30302(a), 30304; National Driver Register (NDR), http://www.nhtsa.gov/Data/National+Driver+Register+(NDR). All state DMV agencies are required to provide NDR with the names of individuals who have lost their privileges or who have been convicted of a serious traffic violation.

  4. 180

    National Driver Register (NDR), http://www.nhtsa.gov/Data/National+Driver+Register+(NDR).

  5. 181

    49 U.S.C. § 30305(b)(11); National Driver Register (NDR), http://www.nhtsa.gov/Data/National+Driver+Register+(NDR).

  6. 182

    National Driver Register (NDR), http://www.nhtsa.gov/Data/National+Driver+Register+(NDR).

  7. 183

    Under the Privacy Act, you are entitled to request a file search to see if your name is listed (i.e., if have a record) in the NDR database. To do so, you must send a notarized letter (also called a “privacy act request”) to the NDR stating that you would like an NDR file check. Mail your request to the National Driver Register, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20590. In your request, make sure to include your full legal name, DOB, State and Driver License Number, Sex, Height, Weight, and Eye Color (your social security number is optional). There is no charge for this service. 23 C.F.R. § 1327.7; National Driver Register (NDR), http://www.nhtsa.gov/Data/National+Driver+Register+(NDR). You can also request your status online, by visiting the NDR website at http://www.nationaldriverregister-forms.org/national_driver_register_file_check_forms.html (note: the link for Individual File Check Forms was broken as of Dec. 1, 2014). It may take the NDR 45 days or more to respond to your request.

  8. 184

    Your NDR driver license status may be any of the following:

    No Match: The individual does not have record a on the NDR.

    Licensed (LIC): Licensed means the individual holds a license in that State and the privilege to drive is valid.

    Eligible (ELG): The individual privilege to drive or apply for a license in a State(s) is valid.

    Not: The individual privilege to drive in a State(s) is invalid.

    NEN: The individual privilege to drive in a State(s) is invalid due to a non-moving violation.

    NDR, http://www.nhtsa.gov/Data/National+Driver+Register+(NDR).

  9. 185

    NDR, http://www.nhtsa.gov/Data/National+Driver+Register+(NDR). You should also contact the state DMV agency if you think that the NDR database is incorrect.

  10. 186

    The NDR provides online driver record request forms for each state on its website for a fee of $15. NDR, http://www.nationaldriverregister-forms.org/ndr/state_forms/national_driver_register_-_state_driver_record_request_forms.html.

  11. 187

    NDR, http://www.nationaldriverregister-forms.org/ndr/state_forms/national_driver_register_-_state_driver_record_request_forms.html.

  12. 188

    Cal. Veh. Code §§ 15000, 15020 et seq.

  13. 189

    Cal. Veh. Code § 15024. There are a few states that have not agreed to the Driver License Compact (e.g., Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan). If your license was suspended or revoked in one of these states, the California DMV may issue you a license if it finds that you are a safe driver. Cal. Veh. Code § 12805(g)-(h).

  14. 190

    Cal. Veh. Code §§ 12805(g); 15024(1).

  15. 191

    Cal. Veh. Code §§ 12805(h); 15024(2).

  16. 192

    Cal. Veh. Code § 15023; see also Cal. Veh. Code §§ 13353.5; 13363. Note: There must be a “substantially similar” offense in California laws in order for California to penalize you for an out-of-state violation. If California does not have an equivalent offense, then California cannot penalize you for an out-of-state violation.

  17. 193

    Out-of-State Convictions, Cal. DMV, https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/dl/driversafety/neg_operator

  18. 194

    Cal. Veh. Code § 13558.

  19. 195

    See, e.g., Moles v. Gourley, 112 Cal. App. 4th 1049 (2003) (upholding suspension of appellant’s California driver license for Virginia DUI conviction, based on court’s finding that California’s and Virginia’s DUI laws are substantially similar, as required for California DMV to enforce Virginia conviction).

  20. 196

    Nonresident Violator Compact, Council of State Gov’ts (2011), http://apps.csg.org/ncic/PDF/Nonresident%20Violator%20Compact.pdf; The Nonresident Violator Compact—Administrative Procedures Manual, NHSTA (rev’d Apr. 1994), http://www.aamva.org/uploadedFiles/
    MainSite/Content/DriverLicensingIdentification/DL_ID_Compacts/NRVC%20Procedures%20Manual.pdf
    .

  21. 197

    Nonresident Violator Compact, Nat’l Ctr. for Interstate Compacts, http://apps.csg.org/ncic/Compact.aspx?id=142.

  22. 198

    See, e.g., Cal. Veh. Code §§ 13205, 13552-53, 40305-05.5, 16376; cf. Chicago Police Dept., Special Order S06-13-01, Bond Procedures—Nonresident Violator Compact § II.B (effective March 7, 2008).

  23. 199

    Driver License Agreement (July 2004).

  24. 200

    For example, the Driver License Agreement expands enforcement of out-of-state violations to include equipment, registration, and parking violations (which are not currently covered by the NRVC); requires drivers who receive out-of-state tickets to comply with all court orders (e.g., fixing equipment, completing community service, etc.), in addition to paying fines; and requires enforcement of out-of-state violations even if the law is different in the driver’s home state (i.e., if you receive a ticket for doing something that is legal in your home state, but illegal in the state where you received a ticket, your home state must still enforce the violation) or if the violation occurred in a non-member state.

  25. 201

    To date, only Connecticut, Arkansas, and Massachusetts have adopted the Driver License Agreement.