Veh. Code, § 12816 · Article 3. Issuance and Renewal of Licenses
Veh. Code, § 12816
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Every original driver’s license expires on the fifth birthday of the applicant following the date of the application for the license.
(b) Renewal of a driver’s license shall be made for a term which expires on the fifth birthday of the applicant following the expiration of the license renewed, if application for renewal is made within six months prior to the expiration of the license to be renewed, or within 90 days after expiration of the license. If renewal is not applied for within 90 days after expiration of the license, the application and fee is considered the same as an application for an original license.
(c) The department may accept application for a renewal of a driver’s license made more than six months prior to the date of expiration. The renewal shall be made for a term which expires on the fifth birthday of the applicant following the date of the application for the renewal license.
(d) The department may accept an application for a license of a different class made more than six months before the expiration of the license previously issued, if the previously issued license is surrendered for cancellation in accordance with Section 13100. The driver’s license issued from that application expires on the fifth birthday of the applicant following the date of the application.
(e) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a), (b), (c), and (d), the department may adjust the expiration date for any driver’s license issued pursuant to this code.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 1043, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 1997.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH§ionNum=12816.
- Text hash
- sha256 325c2e566fabf9c09036621d69a18ad5da0ad66245802fb34d1242cac4f981d5
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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Vehicle Code
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.