GOP Leaders Highlight Ag, Transportation, REAL ID Bills

In advance of the Senate Floor Session Thursday, March 30, Senate Republicans called a media availability to take questions from the press corps on the measures to be debated by the full Senate.

Senator Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake, and Senator Bill Weber, R-Luverne, provided details on the omnibus Agriculture, Rural Development, and Housing bill (SF 780) which authorizes investments of $220 million dollars over the next two years, and it includes a provision designed to spark shrimp production in Southwestern Minnesota.

Senator Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, described two bills he will bring to the Senate Floor: the omnibus Transportation bill (SF 1060) would invest $1.3 billion dollars in road and bridge infrastructure spending over the next biennium, and the FAST Act (HF 837), which requires legislative approval for the release of $105 million dollars in federal road and bridge funding.

The Senate also plans to take up the REAL ID bill (SF166) for the second time. The measure that would bring Minnesota's drivers' licenses and state identification cards into compliance with federally mandated standards failed to pass the Senate on March 6 due to disagreement over a rulemaking section of the bill. DFL Senators feared language in the prior version of the bill would prohibit, in statute, the ability of unauthorized residents to receive drivers' licenses in the future. The bill's author, Senator Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake, said the controversial section of the bill has been removed, and he expects bipartisan support.