Hello from St. Paul,
There’s more progress to report on my bill that addresses gridlock on Highway 65 in Blaine. The proposal was recently heard in the Minnesota House Transportation Finance Committee and was held over for possible inclusion in a large, comprehensive funding proposal that the committee will unveil in the coming weeks.
You’ll recall the bill orders the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to study traffic flow and safety improvements along Highway 65 from County Highway 10 to Bunker Lake Blvd, including the 109th Avenue intersection, and report its findings to the Legislature.
There’s no doubt we need to decrease congestion and make improvements in this area, and I viewed the transportation committee’s decision as good news and will keep you posted on future developments.
Another bill I’m carrying that allows places like the DMV to electronically store motor vehicle and licensing transactions cleared its second committee.
Currently, the DMV must keep driver's license applications and other documents for five years. That takes up an enormous amount of space with entire floors worth of filing cabinets. The hard copies of the documents take up so much room that high volume DMV locations have to rent out off-site storage to contain them all.
Rather than taking up thousands of square footage and off site storage lockers, my bill will modernize the DMV and allow them to store the files electronically on secure servers. This will also improve the customer service experience as the transaction records would be readily accessible and easier to manage for the registrars and the agents.
Not only is this change a smarter way to run government, but it will also save money and make things more efficient. The bill was recently approved in the Minnesota House Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee and now heads to the Minnesota House Transportation Finance Committee for further debate.
Have a good weekend,
Nolan