The DMV works with the superior courts of California to promptly record convictions against driver licenses, and initiates administrative proceedings before its own administrative law judges to suspend or revoke licenses when drivers accumulate excessive convictions (as measured by a point-based system).

As part of the release of the report, Newsom announced the appointment of Steve Gordon as the director of the California DMV.

The Highway Patrol was tasked with enforcement of the vehicle codes and reporting roadways that needed to be repaired, or signage added or replaced.

[citation needed] The DMV began collecting a statewide Vehicle License Fee in 1936, in lieu of the personal property tax that individual cities and counties previously levied directly on motor vehicles regularly garaged within their borders (hence its nickname as the "in lieu tax").

[8] The nation's first modern "credit card style" driver's licenses were introduced by the California DMV in January 1991.

The plastic-coated design featured innovations like digitized photos, color holograms, and magnetic information strips readable by law enforcement.

[17] The first manufacturer licensed to deploy autonomous cars without a safety driver by the California DMV was Nuro, on December 23, 2020.