Last Friday marked the “first” legislative committee deadline at the state capitol whereby most bills must be heard and acted upon by policy committees in either the House or the Senate to remain active. This Friday is the “second” deadline which will require legislation that has met this first deadline to be acted upon by the other chamber (House or Senate). These committee deadlines help streamline and focus legislative activity for lawmakers moving forward to session’s final adjournment by May 23. This is facilitated with “companion” bills introduced in both chambers for each body to work on independent of each other.
Fortunately, legislation that reflects the King report (companion bills SF 3582 in the Senate and HF 4164 in the House) has already satisfied both these deadlines. Action taken in both the Senate and House Transportation Committees have now heard, amended, and subsequently “laid over” these bills, and will now be subject to the third (and final) committee deadline of April 8. By that date, all finance related bills must clear their committees in both the House and Senate. This applies to each body’s Transportation Committee, which dually serve as both “policy” and “finance” legislative committees.
As is common, both the House and Senate Transportation Committees intend to compose their own “omnibus” bill that feature multiple single bills being incorporated into it. This is the eventual path destined for these current “King report” bills to be rolled into new bills in the House and Senate (yet to be determined, but forthcoming in the next two weeks). These will then replace both SF 3582 and HF 4164.
While we are currently well positioned to have these bills included in both House and Senate transportation omnibus bills, there is still nonetheless work left to do in finalizing certain aspects of the current language. Specifically:
- The proposed DL filing fee increase is appropriate for current 4-year license cycles. However, the legislation would also double the term for these credentials to 8 years. Should this remain it actually results in a decrease to our current DL filing fee revenue long-term. It is imperative that either:
- The proposed 8-year DL terms be stricken and revert back to 4-years; or
- The proposed DL filing fees be increased proportionately to reflect this extended term.
(FYI, the current proposal calls for an $8 increase for initial Real/Enhanced applications and for a $3 increase with all other DL transactions and renewals.)
- The sharing of online and mail-in filing fees with deputies from DVS are conditioned upon a deputy to be a full-service DL agent in order to participate. One-third of all offices are “limited” agents, which represents more upfront costs for them if they want to realize any revenue from this fund. In fairness, it is critical that:
- DVS must provide both the camera as well as eye exam equipment for all (DVS only covers a camera for any “full” DL agents established prior to 1-1-2000 currently.)
- Separate targeting funding is needed for limited agents to defray their costs for additional staffing, training, as well as office remodeling and/or possible relocation.
In advance of the release of these transportation omnibus bills, we continue working with key lawmakers on these identified critical matters. Without any modification, the current language will fall well short of what is needed to stabilize our offices and to set them on a more reliable financial footing in the future. Alarmingly, if the current language proceeds unchanged, it will actually have just the opposite effect.
Please join MDRA efforts today by reaching out to key lawmakers this week with a single email from you in your own words that calls for the following:
- Thank you for your strong efforts to stabilize my deputy registrar office with pending legislation currently being advanced for inclusion in the omnibus transportation bill, BUT
- An 8-year driver license without proportional filing fee increases above what is proposed will only reduce my existing revenue going forward which is counterproductive. Otherwise, please keep these credentials at the current 4-years with the proposed filing fee increases.
- The DVS “special fund” for deputy registrars is a critical component for our sustainability. It must be enacted to address our losses with these transactions to the state in the absence of any other motor vehicle related filing fee increases.
- Please repeal the January 1, 2000 grandfather date for deputy eligibility to have a camera provided to us by DVS, and expand this to include eye examination equipment. These items alone cost in the range of $8-12K combined for a deputy to acquire otherwise.
- Please recognize other upfront costs for any office transitioning to “full service” such as hiring more staff, new training for staff, remodeling an office, or possible relocation of an office which is a financial barrier to become a full-service provider:
- Resources are unavailable for limited offices to invest in this beforehand.
- Targeted additional assistance for these impacted offices to conform with this requirement is essential.
- Exempting some offices otherwise from this requirement in very specific circumstances (such as close proximity to existing full-service providers) should be considered.
- Consider allowing all offices to benefit from this fund initially, but with a delayed date requiring all offices to become full-service and remain eligible for future disbursements.
A single email from you in your own words to the following group is strongly encouraged:
sen.scott.newman@senate.mn, rep.frank.hornstein@house.mn, rep.steve.elkins@house.mn, rep.john.petersburg@house.mn, rep.paul.torkelson@house.mn, as well as Senator John Jasinski at www.senate.mn/senatorjasinskiemail and Senator Scott Dibble at www.senate.mn/senatordibbleemail
As a courtesy, please add your own individual House and Senate members to your email as well.
Remember to identify yourself in your communication, along with your office location and contact information! (To determine who your individual lawmakers are, visit either www.house.mn or www.senate.mn and follow the prompts on either webpage for “Who represents me?”. These websites can also provide you with the current language for HF 4164 and SF 3582.)
Don’t assume that other deputy offices will just respond and do this for you instead!! Your individual actions will greatly assist MDRA efforts at the capitol and will significantly help us all in achieving the best outcome for this session.
Thank you, deputies, for your prompt attention to this update and with our call to action! Together, we can make this happen with the proper results that we desperately need! Consider asking others in your office join you too. Public offices should share this request with their department heads and local officials and encourage them to weigh in and participate as well.
