March 6, 2020
CALL TO ACTION FOR ALL MEMBERS
PLEASE CONTACT SENATE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Last week MDRA requested all members to contact the House Transportation Committee members, NOW we ask you do the same with the Senate committee members. Similar with last week’s request, we are breaking down the full list of 16 committee members by deputy office location number ranges so that no office needs to call all 16 senate member offices (certainly we welcome your initiative to call any others outside your grouping, especially if your local senator is listed elsewhere)! We are also expanding this list to include the senate majority leader (Senator Paul Gazelka).
We continue to press for hearings in each committee for our filing fee increase proposal. Both chairs in the house and senate stated to us they will grant such during our Day on the Hill event last month. Scheduling the hearings must occur before “committee deadlines” to have legislation heard before a certain date later this month. Those deadlines require that either the house or senate committee must hear this matter by March 20, and the other body no later than March 27.
Our legislation introduced last year continues to be the bill that serves this need, however it must be amended with slightly higher amounts that we’ve since identified as appropriate based on our last annual time and motion study and new DVS mandated equipment investments that all offices will need to make. Those new increased fee amounts remain fluid amidst ongoing negotiations that we are currently having with key lawmakers and in coordination with DRBOA.
Your message to senators will remain the same as last week’s message to the house. Please call the following senate offices and leave word with the receptionist that, “as a deputy registrar still struggling to meet the demands of the public and the State we serve, passage of increased filing fees for the services we provide are critical this session. Please amend and pass SF 1124 in the transportation committee.” Furthermore, remember to include your name, location, and phone contact in your message and thank them for taking your call. Feel free to expand upon this message which is tailored to your own experiences in support of our efforts as well. Please complete this assignment no later than Wednesday March 11.
Deputy Registrar offices 001 thru 045:
Sen. Paul Gazelka 651-296-4875
Sen. Scott Newman 651-296-4131
Sen. Bruce Anderson 651-296-5981
Sen. Jim Carlson 651-297-8073
Sen. Scott Dibble 651-296-4191
Sen. Melisa Franzen 651-296-6238
Deputy Registrar offices 046 thru 090:
Sen. Paul Gazelka 651-296-4875
Sen. Scott Newman 651-296-4131
Sen. Nick Frentz 651-296-6153
Sen. Dan Hall 651-296-5975
Sen. Jeff Howe 651-296-2084
Sen. John Jasinski 651-296-0284
Deputy registrar offices 091 thru 136:
Sen. Paul Gazelka 651-296-4875
Sen. Scott Newman 651-296-4131
Sen. Susan Kent 651-296-4166
Sen. Matt Klein 651-296-4370
Sen. Andrew Lang 651-296-4918
Sen. Matt Little 651-296-5252
Deputy Registrar offices 137 thru 179:
Sen. Paul Gazelka 651-296-4875
Sen. Scott Newman 651-296-4131
Sen. Dave Osmek 651-296-1282
Sen. Jason Rarick 651-296-1508
Sen. Dave Senjem 651-296-3903
Thank you, deputies for your immediate attention to this call to action! This new list builds upon last week’s list with house transportation committee members, as well as your ongoing communications with your local legislators. If you have not conducted those past calls, please do so! We have received confirmation from lawmakers that calls have been coming in, although the volume has been less than desired. If you think our existing filing fees are NOT proper, you must call the legislature and let them know. This truly helps with our efforts at the capitol!
In other news from the capitol, the Senate Tax Committee will hear SF 3232 (Jasinski), a bill to provide a one-time state income tax subtraction for deputy registrar reimbursement grants received in 2019. This hearing will occur Thursday March 12 beginning at 8:30 AM in Room 15 of the Capitol. MDRA strongly supports this measure, and it delivers on the promises made last year from lawmakers that these grants would not be taxed. Unfortunately, the state cannot enact such a similar correction for federal tax law.
The legislature has also begun advancing separate legislation this past week concerning Real ID documentation required by applicants. These bills (HF 2964-Hornstein/SF 3901-Newman) also remove the criminal background check required for handling standard DL (but it would still require it for Real ID and Enhanced). The existing documentation requirements for applicants would mainly make some of them more flexible, such as making some acceptable beyond the 90-day threshold for up to one year and accepting some documents with unrelated names listed jointly on them. It would become effective shortly after enactment, and a more detailed explanation of all these proposed documentation changes will be shared in a separate update to members that focuses on this.
Legislation has also been advancing this past week resulting from recommendations made by the vehicle registration tax task force. Those bills (HF 3547-Tabke/SF 3497-Kiffmeyer) would remove the destination charge when factoring base value for titles and would also modify the “hold harmless” provision to allow for charging a higher fee with certain registrations compared to their previous year in correcting past registration fee errors with MNLARS. This legislation would not become effective until January 1, 2021 after the new MNDRIVE system is implemented.
Enjoy what appears to be a wonderfully warm weekend, and don’t forget to make those phone calls!
