House Democrats made a last-ditch effort late Thursday before the legislature went home for the weekend, trying to provide 10 million dollars the Dayton administration requested to continue work on the state’s troubled vehicle registration system, but Republicans refused. South Saint Paul Democrat Rick Hansen said, “I don’t like spending the money, I don’t want to spend the money, but we need to spend that money.” Republican Paul Torkelson from Hanska responded, “I’ve had many, many contacts and all of them say, what are you doing? Why would you consider spending more money on something that doesn’t work?” Dayton officials warn without the extra money, work on fixing MN-LARS will have to be rapidly ramped down.
Eagan Democrat Sandra Masin says, “Sitting here doing nothing… it’s not acceptable to me…. I want the problem solved.” But Rockville Republican Jeff Howe says, “I’m not prepared to give ’em another nickel until they can give me a detailed understanding… (of) how they’re gonna plan their way out of this disaster.”