As negotiations resume at the State Capitol over a controversial REAL ID bill, Republicans are throwing back at Governor Mark Dayton what he said the week before last about drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. Dayton said just before the Passover/Easter break, “I do not claim to have the authority to initiate changes in who’s eligible for drivers licenses on my own accord. Neither does the commissioner of public safety.” Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt said today, “If the governor’s honest about what he saying, we can just take his words — literally his words — and put them into the bill, saying that they can’t change it through rulemaking, and we can send it out. Should be very easy.”
Daudt says language has been drafted and he’ll talk to Senate negotiators about it. Governor Dayton said earlier it’s not necessary for the legislature to do anything to preserve what Speaker Daudt says he wants. But Dayton has also said undocumented immigrants should be able to get drivers licenses in Minnesota.