Soon-to-expire driver’s licenses get extension in omnibus transportation law

Additional Minnesotans whose driver’s licenses are set to expire will get an extension to renew due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The measure, part of the omnibus transportation law, extends a driver’s license and state identification card expiration extension law enacted in March in response to the pandemic. It broadens that extension to include licenses and ID’s that would expire in the month that follows the last month of a public health emergency period declared by the governor.

Also included in the law is a provision that will waive the a requirement to take a new photograph and complete a vision test if a driver’s license applicant’s name, address, signature, or driver’s license number hasn’t changed, and they aren't seeking a REAL ID or enhanced driver’s license. That section of the law is effective upon implementation but no later than June 11, 2020, and applies to applications submitted on or before June 30, 2021.

Sponsored by Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Scott Newman (R-Hutchinson), the law is comprised of more two-dozen transportation-related measures in areas all across the state. Language took effect May 28, 2020, unless noted.

Other provisions included in the law are those that will:

• turn back portions of state highways to the county in Dakota and Stearns counties;

• modify the location to display various temporary permits (used for vehicle purchases, in conjunction with some expired plates, and for nonresidents who are transporting a vehicle out of state), to be affixed to the rear of the vehicle instead of in the rear window, and remove a requirement that dealers provide information on permit issuances to the Department of Public Safety. (These sections are effective the earlier of Jan. 1, 2021, or when the state’s replacement motor vehicle title and registration information system is released.);

• allow new or used school buses being sold by a school bus dealer to be operated on public roads, following an interim inspection by the dealer for compliance with state law;

• set conditions for when escort vehicles and escort by peace officers are required to accompany a vehicle with a load that exceeds width or length limitations;

• direct the Office of the Legislative Auditor to perform a series of compensation studies and resulting legislative reports, to compare salaries and benefits across law enforcement agencies with those of the State Patrol;

• provide for a continued non-voting membership on the Driver and Vehicle Systems Oversight Committee for the person who served as chair of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Council on Information Technology, after that council is dissolved;

• modify a 2019 turnback provision to revise the statutory route description instead of repealing it, the effect of which is to retain a trunk highway route in St. Paul and authorize a turnback for the segment of Legislative Route 112 in South St. Paul;

• direct MnDOT, the Department of Public Safety and the Metropolitan Council to each report to the Legislature on the use of federal funds appropriated to the state as part of the response to the COVID-19 health crisis. The report will be due annually by Feb. 15 until that funding is exhausted;

• direct school bus operators to use the pre-warning and stop signal systems on school buses when stopping on roads to deliver food or supplies to students during the COVID-19 emergency period; and

• pending local approval, authorize Aitkin County to centralize road and bridge fund tax proceeds collected in the county’s unorganized townships rather than keep separate accounts for each unorganized township, and use the funds in any unorganized township.

Provisions that take effect Aug. 1, 2020 will:

• allow drivers involved in a motor vehicle collision involving injury or damage to provide an email address in place of a residential address, and state that a driver’s license does not need to be shown to the other driver or drivers involved;

• create a separate optional identifier on driver’s licenses and state identification cards allowing the holder to indicate they have a mental health disorder;

• set owner notification requirements in order for a private road to be dedicated as public when it is continuously repaired or maintained as a public road for six years (applies to new work starting on or after Aug. 1, 2020);

• set standards, notification requirements, and a fee for some free-standing meteorological towers; and

• make a technical correction to the designation of the Specialist Noah Pierce Bridge.

HF462*/SF3522/CH100

HF0462* / SF1014 / CH100