ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota lawmakers put emergency funding for the MNLARS system on the fast track Monday, in hopes of beating a deadline for state agencies to issue layoff notices to technicians working on repairs to the licensing and registration system.
A $13.2 million package passed both the House and Senate and is headed to Gov. Tim Walz's desk for a signature Tuesday.
Of the total, $5.7 million will go to software fixes between now and June 30. Another $2 million goes to the Dept. of Public Safety to hire temporary staff to wade through the backlog of vehicle titles that have been stuck in the system.
And $5.5 million goes to pay FAST Enterprises, the private company that is handling the state's new REAL ID driver's license system.
The Republican-controlled Senate stripped the language that would've set aside $10 million to compensate deputy registrars, the people who run the local license and vehicle registration offices around the state.
Some of those offices are run by cities and counties, while others are operated as private businesses. The privately-owned businesses encountered substantial turnover and overtime dealing with the delays and drop-outs and other troubles transferring titles in the new system.
Senate Transportation Chair Scott Newman, a Hutchinson Republican, said he was committed to getting help to those deputy registrars. But he wanted more time to study that part of the legislation, and lawmakers needed to act immediately on the other money in the bill.
When the legislation returned to the House without money for the deputy registrars, Republicans in that chamber complained emphatically about what the Senate had done to the bill.
Rep. Greg Davids, a Preston Republican, declared that the House had been "rolled" by the Senate. He said his insurance office is in the same building as the local deputy registrar, who also happens to be the mayor.
"We don't have to like it. In fact, we can actively dislike it," House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, a Golden Valley Democrat, told his colleagues.
"But if we don't keep that system functioning and try to get to a better place with it under a new administration, with more bipartisan involvement and openness, we're going to be in a much worse place for the deputy registrars and all Minnesotans."
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