NEW ULM–State Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) stopped in New Ulm to Friday spread positive news about a potential Transportation Bill this session.

Torkelson said the House and Senate have begun conference committee negotiations, but remarks from Gov. Mark Dayton suggest he is willing to accept a bill without a gas tax.

A transportation bill has been a hope for Minnesota legislators for the past several sessions. A sticking point of the bill has been whether to pay for the bill through the budget surplus and tax on auto part sales promoted by the Republicans versus a gas tax pushed by Democrats.

Recently Dayton said he would be willing to accept a bill without a gas tax, saying an inadequate bill is better than no bill.

“He’s recognizing that we need to get a bill done this year that transportation needs to be a priority,” Torkelson said.

How the House and Senate are able to reconcile differences into a single bill is still unknown. Torkelson admitted there were many differences in the two bills. The House Transportation Bill is the more generous with $2 billion over the next biennium and $6 billion over the next ten years without raising taxes.

The Senate bill dedicates $1.4 billion less over the next ten years. In addition the House Bill contains a local bridge fund that is normally part of the bonding bill.

Torkelson said the bridge funding was brought onto the transportation bill to be more consistent and reliable for county engineers to take advantage of the funding. If approved this money could help fund 97 local bridges across the state for next two years.

Torkelson said, once it’s built into the budget, it is an ongoing part of the base and dependable for the future.

The house bill also provides $25 million over the next biennium for cities with populations under 5,000 to make street repairs.

Last year legislators failed to pass a transportation bill by the end of the session. Torkelson hopes a final bill will be reached well before the session deadline.

“We’re ahead of schedule at the moment,” he said. “If we can stay on this pace and stay ahead of schedule that should give us time to get bills passed and to the governor earlier rather than later. On the other hand I am not interested in veto bait. I want to send him a bill that can be signed the first time around.”

On the budget, Torkelson is optimistic Minnesota will see tax relief in the next year. The House, Senate and Governor have all expressed a desire for tax relief this session. The House has the most aggressive position with a $1.35 billion tax cut. The Senate favors $900 million in tax relief and Dayton has suggested a $300 million cut.

The Real ID is the another major obstacle that needs to be solved in the 2017 session. The Real ID law is designed to bring Minnesota in compliance with federal regulations. Without Real ID, by Jan. 2018, Minnesotans will be unable to board an airplane without a passport or enter a federal facility.

The biggest area of contention is making driver licenses available for undocumented residents of Minnesota. The House passed a bill in February preventing undocumented immigrants from receiving Real ID, but Gov. Dayton said he wants to allow the Department of Public Safety to issue new driver’s licenses to anyone willing to get the training and insurance necessary to be better drivers.

Torkelson is hoping to have the Real ID bill resolved in time for the new Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS) comes online.

Torkelson and his fellow legislators have a month to hammer out the difference. The 2017 session deadline is Monday, May 22.