Your license is suspended because of unpaid court fines. Normally, the fines must be paid in full before you can get your driver’s license back. A County Attorney Driver's License Reinstatement Pay Plan (CAPP) may allow you to reinstate your driver's license while consolidating payments on all of your unpaid fines and Department of Transportation (DOT) civil penalties.
In plain language, a CAPP allows you to “rent” your license while you pay down your fines.
- Applicants with pending Johnson County serious misdemeanor, aggravated misdemeanor or felony charges will not be considered until those charges have been resolved.
- Applicant must submit a completed personal financial statement.
- Applicants should review Other Issues and FAQs before applying.
- Participation in a Driver's License Reinstatement Agreement requires the full cooperation of the applicant.
- Acceptance or refusal of an agreement application is subject to the full discretion of the Johnson County Attorney's Office.
Other Issues
Bars and Revocations
These are holds on your license that last for specific periods of time. Nothing will end them early. Even if you are barred or revoked, a CAPP may still be helpful if you need a Temporary Restricted License (TRL) for work, school, child care, health care or other reasons. Click here for more information about TRLs.
Applicants are advised to check with the DOT regarding their eligibility for a TRL. Entering a CAPP does NOT guarantee issuance of a TRL.
DOT Civil Penalties
DOT assesses a "civil penalty" each time it bars or revokes your license. If possible you should pay these before setting up a CAPP. But if you cannot pay DOT civil penalties in full we can include them as part of a CAPP. For information about paying DOT civil penalties online or by mail, click here.
Drinking Driver’s Class (12-hour) and Substance Abuse Evaluations and Treatment
- Contact the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) for provider list.
- If you think you have completed these requirements, contact your service provider and ask them to notify the DOT.
Vehicle Registration Holds & Lifts
If you have any outstanding fines payable to the court, there will be a hold on your ability to register a motor vehicle in Iowa. This includes all criminal and driving-related fines. The hold will remain in place until all fines are paid in full.
However, if you are current on a satisfactory pay plan with the County Attorney we can grant a temporary ten (10) day lift of the hold to allow you to register your vehicle.
If you stopped making payments on a previous pay plan you will have to bring yourself current with the terms of that plan, plus an additional payment to be determined before we will enter a new plan and grant a lift on a vehicle registration hold. You will have to submit a new payment plan application.
Contact us with your current residing address, mailing address and phone number. If we agree that you are current on your plan we will notify your County Treasurer to lift the hold.
Contempt Of Court / Show Cause Hearings
In some cases we file contempt of court (sometimes called Show Cause) proceedings to help collect fines. We will work with you to set up a pay plan. If you do not comply with the pay plan, you must appear in court and explain why you have not done so.
Deferred Judgment/Probation Discharge
The law prohibits discharge from probation if you still owe money to the court -- unless you are on a satisfactory pay plan with the County Attorney.
If you are up-to-date on an existing plan with either your probation officer or us we will usually adopt that as your discharge pay plan, but we reserve the right to revise the plan based on your current circumstances.