ST. PAUL, MN –  Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mark Johnson (R- East Grand Forks) responded to DPS and DVS announcing the re-opening of previously shuttered drivers’ testing stations across the state.

“Reopening these stations should have never taken this long. Government has to stay open to provide essential services, including licensing drivers. At a time when our economy desperately needed school bus and truck delivery drivers, and when young kids had already been denied so many rites of passage from the pandemic, it was clear we needed to act on behalf of our constituents and put pressure on the administration to get this done.” 

DVS initially closed stations in response to the COVID pandemic. However, as other pandemic mitigation efforts were loosened, many closed stations in rural Minnesota did not reopen. In June, Senate Republicans provided more than $5 million to completely reopen all the previously closed stations and ensure every Minnesotan had access to a testing station. After continued delays into the fall, the Senate Majority members wrote a letter to the administration on Oct. 5th demanding a timeline on when the stations would be reopened. A hearing held by the Senate Transportation Committee on Oct. 15th provided the public with an opportunity to explain the challenges of sending people hours away for a test when the economy struggled to license enough drivers for essential jobs.  

“We still have a ways to go,” Johnson continued, “and I’m not letting up on the throttle for my constituents. Minnesotans in all areas of the state deserve access to essential driver’s license services so they can have the means to go about their daily lives. We expect to continue to receive these updates and have more stations across the state open.”

Read the announcement from DPS-DVS here.