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Committee considers fee‑sharing and reimbursements to support deputy registrars
Summary
Lawmakers and deputy registrar owners argued Feb. 19 that online transactions have stripped revenue from local deputy registrar offices; committee considered bills (SF 1164, SF 1165) to share filing fees and reimburse no‑fee transactions. DVS said some online work is done entirely by state employees and warned about revenue impacts.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Owners and managers of deputy registrar offices told the Senate Transportation Committee on Feb. 19 that an increasing share of routine vehicle and driver transactions done online has eroded the revenue base that supports local offices, and they supported two bills to redirect some fees back to those offices.
Senate File 1164, amended with an A.1 author's amendment that the committee approved, would create a deputy registrar fee‑sharing account and a driver's license agent fee‑sharing account. For some mail‑ or online‑completed vehicle transactions, the bill would deposit half of the statutory filing fee into the fee‑sharing account and split the remainder between Driver and Vehicle Services operating and technology accounts; a new $5 surcharge on mail renewals would be split between DVS and the fee‑sharing account. The amendment sets an effective date of Oct. 1, 2025.
Senate File 1165 would reimburse deputy registrars for certain transactions that currently carry…
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