No. Since June 2017, California law has not allowed the DMV to suspend a driver’s license because a traffic fine went unpaid. Two legacy court-notice suspension sections, Vehicle Code sections 13365 and 13365.2, remain until January 1, 2027 for old notices; they do not restore the former failure-to-pay suspension route.

Unpaid fines stopped being a suspension ground in 2017

Before 2017, a court could notify the DMV that a person had failed to pay a fine or bail, and the DMV then had to suspend the license. Assembly Bill 103 (Stats. 2017, ch. 17), a budget bill that took effect immediately when it was signed on June 27, 2017, ended that. Its Legislative Counsel’s Digest says the bill would “repeal the authority of the court to notify the department of a failure to pay a fine or bail,” which removed the DMV’s duty to suspend on that notice (Assembly Bill 103).

The current text of Vehicle Code section 13365 reflects that change. It acts only on notice of “a violation of subdivision (a) of Section 40508,” which is the offense of willfully breaking a written promise to appear. Failing to pay is a different subdivision, 40508(b), and section 13365 does not mention it.

Missed court dates: the notices ended in 2023 and the suspensions end in 2027

A missed court date was the last path to this kind of suspension, and it is closing. Assembly Bill 2746 (Stats. 2022, ch. 800), which took effect January 1, 2023, repealed Vehicle Code sections 40509 and 40509.5, the statutes that let or required courts to report a failure to appear to the DMV (Assembly Bill 2746, sections 23 and 24). Sections 13365 and 13365.2 remain for suspensions tied to notices sent under the former court-notice provisions, including former section 40509.5(b) notices under section 13365.2. Both sections sunset on January 1, 2027, and the same bill provides that any suspension issued under either section before that date “shall be terminated on January 1, 2027” (section 27).

Until then, two rules still apply to an old notice already on a driving record:

  • A suspension under section 13365 “shall continue until the suspended person’s driving record does not contain any notification” of a failure to appear (Vehicle Code section 13365(b)(2)).
  • The DMV may not issue or renew a license while it holds a notice sent under the former notice statutes, unless it has received the court’s certificate (Vehicle Code section 12807(c)). The version of section 12807 that takes over on January 1, 2027 no longer contains that clause.

Unpaid fines and missed court dates still carry real risk

None of this makes it safe to ignore a ticket, a fine, or a court date. Vehicle Code section 40508 makes willfully violating a written promise to appear a misdemeanor (subdivision (a)). It also makes it a misdemeanor to willfully fail to pay a lawfully imposed fine, or bail installments agreed to under section 40510.5, by the court’s deadline without a lawful excuse presented to the court by that date. Later payment in full does not by itself erase that violation (subdivision (b)).

Unpaid amounts can also be collected in other ways. The State Controller is directed, to the extent feasible, to offset overdue fines and bail against state income tax refunds, California State Lottery winnings, and payments on unclaimed property claims (Government Code section 12419.10(a)(1)). For what a missed court date means in the criminal case itself, including warrants, see failure to appear defense.

A DUI case is different

The suspensions that follow a DUI arrest or conviction come from other statutes with their own rules, and the repeals described here do not end them. See DMV hearing defense and DUI license reinstatement.

If your license is already suspended or cannot be renewed

If the DMV still lists a suspension or renewal block, obtain the record and identify the statute and court notice behind it. For a qualifying old failure-to-appear notice, the transition rules above may remain relevant until January 1, 2027. An unpaid balance alone is a different issue; do not assume paying it resolves a separate failure-to-appear or DUI suspension. What would clear your record depends on the specific basis for each restriction.

The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review that record with you, especially if several tickets, missed dates, and a DUI matter have become tangled together. Call (800) 755-5174 to discuss your case.