The Wright County License Bureau has been receiving numerous calls from residents regarding driver’s licenses that have expired or are set to expire and are unable to renew them due to the COVID-19-related closures. Wright County License Bureau Supervisor Becky Aanerud wants residents to know that a dispensation has been made to the law regarding this situation.

“A lot of residents are concerned about their driver’s licenses expiring and not being in compliance with the law,” Aanerud said. “We remain under the emergency declaration from the governor and a change has been made taking into account that people can’t renew their licenses at this time. The change allows for 60 days after the month that the emergency declaration is lifted to renew their license without being out in violation of the law.”

To put that into “real life” terms, if Gov. Tim Walz was to lift the state of emergency that currently is scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, May 3, those whose licenses have expired would have until July 30 to get their licenses in compliance. If the executive order expires any time during the month of May, the same July 30 deadline would be in effect. If the order was lifted June 1, drivers would have until Aug. 30 to renew their license without being in violation of the law.

“I hope people are getting this message,” Aanerud said. “The things that we are able to process, like license tabs, plates and title transfers, are going through as quickly as we can get them out. Our drop boxes are being used a lot and we’re processing all of those requests. But, we need people to know that they won’t be breaking the law if their driver’s license expires during the pandemic and will have 60 days or more to renew their licenses once the emergency declaration is lifted.”