Executive Summary
California was months away from exhausting its supply of automobile license plates, risking a statewide halt in new vehicle registrations. To prevent this disruption to more than 261,000 monthly issuances, the DMV launched the New Auto License Plate Configuration (NALPC) Project after the 1982 plate format reached the end of its 40-year sequence.
The project required modernizing 153 legacy programs written in Assembler, COBOL, and EDL, many untouched for decades and dependent on scarce technical expertise. Despite competing priorities and a temporary reassignment of key staff, the team sustained progress through cross-training, clarified roles, coordinated resource management, and disciplined risk oversight.
All 153 programs were successfully deployed in December 2025 with only two minor defects, both resolved immediately. On January 28, 2026, the DMV began issuing plates under the new configuration at two pilot offices, producing 88 plates and confirming system accuracy and readiness ahead of statewide rollout.
The NALPC Project demonstrates the DMV’s ability to modernize critical infrastructure, safeguard essential public services, and deliver complex statewide change with precision and measurable impact.
