The Minnesota Senate last week approved a wide-ranging transportation policy bill that includes provisions from 18 different bills authored by members of both parties.

“This is a bipartisan bill that includes a number of great measures aimed at keeping our roads safer, and I’m glad to see a host of bipartisan measures included in this bill,” said Howe, who sits on the Senate Transportation Committee.

Included in the bill is language authored by Senator Jeff Howe (R-Rockville), which would make it easier for veterans to have a “VETERAN” indicator on their drivers’ licenses or identification cards. Currently to receive the “Veteran” designation on a drivers’ license, a DD-214 form must be provided as proof of identification. Not having this indication on a license does not affect any VA benefits but does allow veterans to use their state identification card to receive veteran discounts at local businesses. This bill would allow Veterans to provide other forms of documentation in lieu of the DD-214 official form.

“This is a commonsense change that simply allows our Veterans to more-easily add the ‘Veteran’ designation to their drivers’ license cards,” said Howe. “DD-214 forms are extremely personal documents, that are often stored and kept safely away with other personal documents and are not always easy to access for something as incidental as applying for a license.”

The bill also includes language authored by Sen. Howe that addresses clearance requirements for railroads. Current law is interpreted in a way that only “depot companies used only for passenger service” and “railway companies used only for passenger service” are exempted from certain clearance statutes. This language clarifies that yards and terminals of “depot companies” and also “railway companies used only for passenger service” are both exempt from certain clearance statutes.

Sen. Howe offered an additional amendment to the bill, which addresses collective bargaining for law enforcement. The Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) currently does a compensation survey for law enforcement, but when Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) negotiates salary and benefits, they fail to utilize report findings. The amendment requires MMB use the data collected to ensure fair compensation for State Patrol and law enforcement officers.

“State patrol and state law enforcement have hard a hard time recruiting and retaining their folks, and this is a simple change that will help their efforts,” said Howe. “If the OLA collects the reporting, it should be used. These are the folks that step up to keep our communities safe – they are in the line of danger every day, and we should ensure they are receiving proper compensation for doing so.”

Senate Republicans offered an additional amendment to keep Uber and Lyft in Minnesota after the Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance that would lead the ridesharing companies to reduce or eliminate service in Minnesota. This amendment would have prevented local governments from regulating transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft. In response to Minneapolis’ actions, Uber has said they will be ceasing operations in the metro area and Lyft has said they will eliminate service to Minneapolis due to the Minneapolis ordinance. The amendment was ruled out of order.

Other notable provisions in the Senate transportation package include:

• Allowing Minnesota State campuses to offer more CDL testing in an effort to ease the backlog for CDL and Class D road tests
• Authorizing the use of ground lights on motorcycles
• Equipping school buses with supplemental amber warning lights
• Allowing agricultural equipment to briefly cross the center line (if there is no oncoming traffic) to avoid obstacles on the right side of the road

The bill passed with unanimous bipartisan support.