Dear Neighbor,
This week we passed the 2017 Health Care Emergency Aid and Access bill. The House’s and Senate’s versions are now in conference committee. I expect the final version to be back to the House and Senate for an up or down vote as soon as next week.
The bill provides targeted relief for those suffering unaffordable health insurance premiums, creates a continuity of care feature for patients in critical care situations and a group of other program reforms that need to be done now.
I presented my bill to phase out the state income tax on social security retirement benefits to the House Tax committee on Wednesday. The bill was accepted and is now in the mix for a larger tax reform bill the committee is working on to put forward later in the session.
The House’s Real ID bill (H.F. 3) of which I am a co-author moved through the final policy and finance committees this week. It is now awaiting action in the House Ways and Means Committee. Once the bill clears Ways and Means it will then be ready for final debate and passage on the house floor.
Unfortunately, there recently has been some misinformation flying around about the impact of Minnesota complying with the federal Real ID standards for driver’s licenses.
Two frequent questions I have received include:
Do Real ID-complaint licenses contain a chip that allows the government to track me? No.
Will the info you provide such as date of birth or proof of your legal status to be in the U.S. go into a data base to be used to take away your firearms or stop you from purchasing them? No.
Other recent questions include:
Must I get a Real ID-compliant license? No, the current plan is to still offer the non-compliant license version we use today as an option.
Will it become mandatory to have a Real ID-compliant ID to board domestic aircraft in the U.S.? Yes, starting Jan. 22, 2018, Real ID-compliant identification will be required to board domestic aircraft in the US.
We need to get this done now. I will continue to work to get the Real ID issue resolved as soon as possible. For a detailed look at H.F. 3 please click here.
Sincerely,
Dale