My DL expired a couple of months ago. I paid it, they cashed the check, and two months later..no new DL. I'm going out of town this weekend and don't want any mishaps, and so I called the DMV to find out where the heck it was!
(side note: remembering that my daughter paid her registration last year and it took three months for her to receive new tags due to CA budget cuts and lack of personnel. In the meantime, she got a ticket for expired tags when it wasn't even her fault!)

Ok, so, what I was told was that because my DL and my SS card aren't EXACTLY the same, they are HOLDING my DL until I remedy that! AHHHHHHHH!
So, for example, if you have MARY ELIZABETH BROWN on your DL, but your SS card says MARY BROWN, OR MARY E. BROWN, they are not EXACTLY the same, and they will NOT issue you a new license!

So..if your license is expiring this year, you might want to check that. They suggest changing it with the SS dept first, and the form can be found on the website, using the same form as if you were applying for a new one. This also caused me a little bit of grief at the airport and DEFINITELY caused me some grief getting my passport.

Here's one more reason you're luckier to be a male - no zillion name changes! (Although mine's read the same for 24 years and it's only now that it will no longer work..)