Five months into the problematic rollout of Minnesota's new vehicle licensing system, some state lawmakers are calling for a bailout for licensing offices that have faced major financial losses as they've tried to keep up with demand for plates, tabs and titles.
As legislators heard new testimony about long wait times at licensing offices and monthslong processing delays for car titles, there was renewed focus on the surging expenses for the 174 deputy registrars' offices run as private businesses or by cities and counties around the state. Some of those offices' operators say they're pulling money out of their personal savings accounts or relying on their retirement or Social Security accounts to keep their doors open.
While state officials said they are working hard to iron out bugs in the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS), lawmakers are increasingly concerned that the glitches will persist well into 2018 — and that licensing offices could be forced to shut down if the state doesn't step in.
Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, said he and a handful of other lawmakers will introduce a bill next year that would set aside $10 million to help compensate the deputy registrars' offices for lost revenue. He likened the debut of MNLARS to hitting an iceberg — and said he's worried the impact will be particularly destructive for local offices that rely on the system.
"I think it's really important that we make the deputy registrars whole for their costs that have been incurred through no fault of their own," he said in a House committee hearing on MNLARS last week. "They got hit by the iceberg, too."
Other solutions mulled
Other lawmakers are pondering additional solutions. Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, said he's drawing up a bill that would do more to redistribute to deputy registrars' offices the tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees collected by the state.
"Your voice is loud and clear: you should not have gone through what you are going through," he said after listening to testimony from deputy registrars. "For that, the state of Minnesota owes you a great apology."
The state spent a decade preparing to replace its 30-year-old licensing system with MNLARS, an upgrade officials said would speed transactions and improve customer service. But almost immediately after the late July rollout, offices around the state were reporting regular system slowdowns and logging a growing list of problems. Deputy registrars found they couldn't help customers transfer specialty license plates or ensure that auto dealers could quickly get paperwork processed after a sale.