While the Minnesota Senate passed a bipartisan compromise on Monday designed to fix the epic fail that is MNLARS, Minnesota's new vehicle registration system, the House substituted its own language, forcing the legislation into conference committee.
Had the House accepted the compromise language sent to the body by the Minnesota Senate--which the Governor had promised to sign--it's likely the bill would be law and work on fixing MNLARS would continue.
One almost would think that the House Republicans love to kvetch rather than fix problem. One might be right. Read our coverage on earlier hijinks on March 1 in New Ulm Journal scolds MN Transportation chair Torkelson for playing politics with MNLARS fix. Not much has changed in Torkelson's my way or no highway tactics.
Tim Pugmire of Minnesota Public Radio reports in House and Senate pass competing versions of bills to fix MNLARS:
After a weekend of bipartisan negotiations, Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, rolled out a new version of his bill to help fix the state's troubled vehicle licensing and registration system known as MNLARS.
The Senate bill now allocates $9.65 million of the $10 million originally requested by Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) from existing reserves. The previous version included $7.3 million.
"We are going to appropriate more funding for DPS and MNIT, so that they can proceed with the MNLARS project, while at the same time provide legislative oversight on how that money is spent," Newman said.
The Senate voted 47-20 Monday to pass the revised bill, but the Senate bill differs significantly from the House version. . . .
CBS Minnesota/WCCO's Mary McGuire reports in Gov. Dayton Lambastes House Version Of MNLARS Funding Fix:
In the midst of an election year, Governor Mark Dayton warned about a highly political and partisan session at the Capitol where it would be tough to get anything passed. That prediction appears to have become reality.
On Tuesday, Dayton urged legislators to keep working on a solution to the MNLARS funding fix.
State officials had said the state’s computer system for vehicle licensing needed $43 million to fix all of its problems.
On Monday, the Senate passed nearly $10 million in funding for the fix-it project, paired with strict oversight. The Governor said that is fine, but the House version of the bill is not since it would take money away from other state agencies to support the fixes.
“If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem,” said Dayton.
The Senate bill passed on Monday would also require DPS and Minnesota IT services to submit a timeline for a fully-functioning system by the middle of May.
As for the House version of that bill, it was voted on by legislators Monday night.
Dayton made it clear he is not happy about it and doesn’t intend on signing it.
Forum News Services reporter Don Davis wrote in MNLARS one of many bills lawmakers tackle near deadline:
Gov. Mark Dayton seldom says he would veto a bill, but if it reaches his desk he promises to veto House-passed legislation to get the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System running smoothly.
The measure representatives passed late Monday afternoon would take money from other agencies to fix the Public Safety Department program. Dayton said on Tuesday, March 20, that he refuses to let lawmakers "cannibalize" other departments' budgets to fix MNLARS.
However, he said he can support a Senate bill that takes nearly $10 million from other Public Safety accounts.
But while Dayton was threatening a veto, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, said he thinks a House-Senate compromise that Dayton will sign can be reached by Thursday.
Dayton said he talked about the issue over breakfast with legislative leaders Tuesday, but the five did not reach an agreement about what should be done.
"It should have been resolved a month ago," Dayton said.
Here's the video of Monday's debate on MNLARS. Enjoy the airing of grievances and the "gotcha" amendment whose author urged her colleagues to vote against:
After the debate, representative Rick Hansen--who offered the MNLARS fix on March that Torkelson played politics with--issued a Statement: House Republicans Again Delay Action on MNLARS Solutions:
Today the Minnesota Senate passed a bipartisan solution that would continue funding to fix the MNLARS system. Instead of agreeing to the Senate legislation supported by Governor Dayton and a bipartisan coalition of legislators, Minnesota House Republicans refused and delayed by sending a hyper-partisan bill back to the Senate that will raid other agency funds.
Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South Saint Paul) issued the following statement:
“The Legislature knew this was a problem in January, in February we convened, in March Republicans refused to act, and now they’re refusing to act again today. Dozens of workers have gotten layoff notices and other workers are quitting because of the delays and uncertainty which Republicans have created.
“We could have voted to send a compromise bill to the Governor today—a problem-solving bill that the Senate already passed 47-20—and let workers know they’re not going to be laid off. Instead, Republicans chose to play games with worker’s livelihoods and delay needed action on fixing MNLARS yet again.”
Hansen's amendment to the house language would have tapped dollars in the reserve, rather than seeking new revenue or raiding other programs. Far too much common sense for House Republicans who want to drag this out without fixing it. Governing should happen, not constant campaigning.
Photo: Paul Torkelson, insisting on the House language, although sending the MNLARS fix to a conference committee will eat up even more time, when the Minnesota Senate had worked out a compromise that the Governor would sign. Because airing grievances is more important than fixing the state's vehicle registration system.
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