How to File the California DL 114 Motion to Dismiss (VC 41500)

The California DL 114 form is the “Request for Dismissal of Failure to Appear (FTA) Violations” that a jail or prison submits to the DMV to clear eligible traffic FTA holds from an incarcerated person’s driving record under Vehicle Code Section 41500. You do not file it yourself. The facility completes it, stamps it with a county seal, and mails it directly to the DMV.¹ Your job is to ask the right staff member, give them accurate information about each ticket, and follow up to confirm the holds come off your record.

Who Can Use the DL 114

Vehicle Code 41500 bars prosecution for any nonfelony traffic offense, including Vehicle Code pedestrian violations, that was pending against you when you were committed to custody. It covers people committed to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Division of Juvenile Justice within CDCR, or a county jail under a sentence imposed through Penal Code Section 1170(h).²

The timing rule is simple. The traffic offense must have happened before you were committed. A ticket you picked up on temporary release, on parole, or on postrelease community supervision does not qualify, even if you went back into custody afterward. The statute also prohibits the DMV from suspending, revoking, or refusing to renew your license because of a qualifying pre-commitment traffic offense.²

You can still use the DL 114 after release. The eligibility is tied to when the offense occurred relative to your commitment, not to whether you are currently in custody. If you were released without the form being submitted, you can go back to the facility that held you and ask records staff to complete it.

What the Form Actually Clears

When you miss a court date on a traffic ticket, the court notifies the DMV under Vehicle Code Section 40509, and the DMV places an FTA hold on your driving record. That hold can block a license renewal or a new license. Section 41500(c) requires the DMV to remove the Section 40509 notice once it receives satisfactory evidence that you were committed to custody after the underlying offense.² The DL 114, with its facility stamp verifying your custody dates, is that evidence. Removal is not discretionary once the DMV has a properly completed form.

One important limit: clearing the DMV hold is not the same as closing the traffic case in court. The DL 114 strips the FTA notation from your driving record and lifts related license holds, but the underlying case may still show as unresolved in the court’s system. If you want the charge formally dismissed, you may need to contact the clerk of the court where the citation was filed and provide proof of your commitment dates. Some courts accept a letter from the facility or a certified commitment record for this purpose.

How to Get the Form Submitted

Start by asking your facility’s records office, social worker, or reentry coordinator to complete a DL 114 on your behalf. Some CDCR institutions and county jails handle these as part of pre-release planning. Others need a direct request. If staff have questions about completing the form, the DMV’s Mandatory Actions Unit can be reached at (916) 657-6525.¹

Three things have to be true for the DMV to accept the form:

A county stamp or seal appears on the form. Without it, the DMV will not process the request.
Facility staff complete and sign the staff section, including name, title, facility address, signature, date, and telephone number.
The facility, not you, mails the completed original directly to the DMV at the address printed on the form. The instructions specifically say the form should not be returned to the inmate.¹

Ask staff to confirm when the form has actually been mailed. Because you don’t get a copy back, the handoff is easy to lose track of. The form itself is downloadable from the DMV forms library.³ A reentry organization or attorney working with you after release can download it and coordinate with the facility to get it stamped.

What to Gather Before You Ask

The faster you give staff accurate information, the faster the form gets out the door. Wrong case numbers and mismatched offense dates are the common reasons the DMV sends a form back unprocessed. Pull together:

Your California driver license number. If you don’t know it, request a copy of your driving record from the DMV, which costs $5.⁴
The court name and case number for each pending traffic case. Your driving record lists FTA holds and the courts that reported them. You can also call or write the court clerk in the county where you got each ticket.
The specific Vehicle Code section cited and the date of each offense. These appear on the original citation and on your driving record.
Your exact date of commitment. Facility records staff have this and need it to confirm each offense occurred before you entered custody.

Multiple violations can go on a single form, as long as each one meets the 41500 criteria.

Violations the DL 114 Will Not Clear

Section 41500 carves out three categories that stay on your record regardless of your custody status:

Any nonfelony offense that, upon conviction, requires the DMV to immediately suspend or revoke your license.²
Reckless driving under Vehicle Code 23103, driving under the influence under 23152, and DUI causing injury under 23153.²
Any offense you committed while on temporary release, parole, or postrelease community supervision, even if you were later recommitted.²

The parole exclusion catches people off guard. A speeding ticket you picked up during a parole stint does not qualify, even if it was still pending when you returned to custody on a violation.

Commercial driver’s license holders face an additional federal restriction. Under 49 CFR Section 384.226, states cannot mask, defer, or divert any traffic conviction for a CDL or commercial learner’s permit holder, in any type of vehicle, with narrow exceptions for parking, weight, and vehicle defect violations.⁵ Even if an offense qualifies under state law, the federal rule may prevent it from being cleared from the Commercial Driver’s License Information System. If you hold a CDL, check with the DMV’s commercial licensing division or an attorney familiar with CDL regulations before counting on the DL 114 to clear every hold.

After the DMV Receives the Form

Once the DMV has a properly completed and stamped DL 114, it matches the listed offenses against the FTA holds on your record and confirms the commitment dates. Qualifying FTA entries come off, and related suspensions or holds are lifted. The statute makes this mandatory.²

Neither the statute nor the form publishes a guaranteed processing time, and in practice DMV record updates can take several weeks. After a reasonable wait, pull your driving record to confirm the holds are gone. You can request it online, by mail, or in person for $5.⁴ If the holds still show, call the Mandatory Actions Unit at (916) 657-6525 to follow up.

1
Department of Motor Vehicles. Request for Dismissal of Failure to Appear (FTA) Violations
2
California Legislative Information. California Code Vehicle Code 41500
3
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Forms
4
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Licensing Fees
5
eCFR. Prohibition on Masking Convictions