“This isn’t the last time you’re gonna hear MNLARS,” said Hanska Representative Paul Torkelson after the House on Thursday afternoon approved 10 million dollars to continue fixing the state’s vehicle registration system and sent the legislation to Governor Mark Dayton for his signature. Torkelson notes, “Original request of course was for 43 million dollars. This is only ten million so, yes, we will have some more work to do to evaluate that request and see if there’s some way that we should or could address it.”
There’s also talk at the legislature about compensating deputy registrars for additional costs they incurred because of problems with MNLARS. And some lawmakers say there should be amnesty for motorists who received citations because license plates or tabs weren’t issued promptly.
Torkelson says he wants to give the new state I-T Commissioner Johanna Clyborne a chance to be successful: “She brings a new attitude to MN-IT. I hope that she can do that work efficiently and well, and get MN-IT operating so that it does the work it’s supposed to do for the citizens of Minnesota in a timely fashion.”
More in this excerpt of Torkelson’s remarks on the House floor: