Dear Neighbor,
Some good news from St. Paul, yesterday: We passed a bill to bring our state into compliance with the federal Real ID standards. Minnesotans will be able to obtain an ID card or driver’s license that will be valid for commercial air travel and access to federal facilities including military bases.
The Minnesota Department of Motor Vehicles now has authorization to move forward with the steps necessary to begin issuing Real ID-compliant driver’s licenses and ID cards. Citizens will have the choice of getting a Real ID-complaint license or ID card, or they can elect to continue with the current cards. Those who decide not to get the Real ID complaint cards will have to acknowledge that the non-complaint cards will not be honored for boarding aircraft or access to federal facilities.
The current rules that prohibit issuing Minnesota drivers licenses or ID cards to individuals that are in the country illegally remains in place. The DMV is now working on an implementation schedule. I will let you know as soon as details are available.
This has been an ongoing issue. We included opt-in and opt-out options to accommodate those who don’t feel they need the Real ID-complaint cards. We also took measures to mitigate the cost of those that would have to exchange their existing current license for the new Real ID license. The bill passed the House 120-11 and makes implementation as painless as possible.
Work continues on getting a budget in place. The first series of budget bills the House and Senate passed fully funding state government where all vetoed by the governor. We are assembling a second round of bills and working with the governor to finish our work on time.
We are working hard to establish a responsible budget and plan to be at the Capitol through the weekend to find agreement with the governor. Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Dale