Clock Strikes Midnight: Minnesota State Government Shuts Down

The state of Minnesota has officially shut down.

After weeks of intense negotiations, capped by closed-door sessions through Thursday’s waning minutes, Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican lawmakers failed to agree on an operating budget for the coming biennium.

In Mendota Heights, City Administrator David McKnight said a shutdown would have limited impact on the city directly. The city receives some "minor categorical aid" he said that they may need to cover eventually with reserves.

McKnight said that the city has been helping residents get electrical inspections done before the shutdown. Electrical inspections in Mendota Heights, Mendota and Lilydale must be done by the Minnesota Board of Electricity.

The West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan School District has also been anticipating a shutdown. School board Chair Robin Rainford said the board has passed measures to allow borrowing if needed, although state payments will continue under a court ruling handed down this week.

Concerns over teacher licensing have been floating through the education community as well, but in this case, the district's recent budget cuts might serve to ease those dilemmas. Due to the personnel cuts made this spring, any additional teachers hired in the fall would come from the pool of prior employees, who already carry licensure. Summer school is already staffed with licensed teachers.

The state shutdown comes after an intense week of negotiations between Dayton and Republican leaders.

“I deeply regret that after two days of intense negotiations we have failed to reach an agreement,” Dayton said during a 10:30 p.m. press conference in his office.

As midnight neared Thursday evening and a budget deal between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican legislative leaders looked less and less likely, thousands of Minnesotans—including many laid-off state workers—flocked to the steps of the Capitol building for a "candlelight vigil" sponsored by two unions, AFSCME and MAPE.

Attendees wore glowstick lanyards around their neck, waved signs and chanted "We want to work" and "Tax the richest."

 Rep. Rick Hansen (D-District 39A) waited outside the Capitol steps Thursday evening trying, he said, "to be as receptive as I can to constituents."

He said he was worrying about the consequences of a shutdown.

"What if we have a tornado?" he asked. "What if we have a flood?

"There's things we take for granted that public services provide."

While he would have preferred to prevent a government shutdown, he said that "if we adopted the budget the Republicans proposed, we would have had massive layoffs permanently.

"Considering how the Republican majority's positions are, I don't think we could have ended up any differently without individual legislators saying they want to avoid the shutdown."

Earlier in the week, Gov. Dayton said a deal would have to be done by Wednesday in order to draft and pass the necessary legislation. But Thursday, the governor continued meeting with GOP leaders on-and-off trying to put an agreement in place.

At around 10:30 p.m. Thursday evening Gov. Dayton rejected a 2-page temporary funding deal from the GOP leadership that would keep the Minnesota government operational for an additional 10 days.

"There are a lot of people on the steps of the Capitol right now asking us to not shut down the government,” Koch said. “This document is their answer.”

When asked his response to the 10-day temporary funding bill, Gov. Dayton’s answer was concise: “I think it’s a publicity stunt,” he replied.

The day’s events smacked of the political posturing that has become characteristic of these budget negotiations.

There appeared a glimmer of hope early Thursday evening. But around 8:30 p.m., Rep. Tony Cornish (R-District 24B) reported to his seat in the Minnesota House saying he had received a message from the GOP leadership to do so. “There is always time for a deal,” Cornish told reporters as he walked into the House.

The gesture was called “grandstanding,” “theatrics” and “mock legislature” by Democratic minority leaders Sen. Tom Bakk and Rep. Paul Thissen.

Bakk took the podium at 9 p.m. and pleaded with his GOP counterparts to return to the negotiating table instead of sitting in the legislature. “We are running out of time,” he said plainly.

Bakk’s statement proved accurate. Fiscal year 2012-13 began at 12:01 a.m. today and, without a budget in place, the State of Minnesota will be unable to fund its myriad services or pay salaries to its almost 33,000 state employees—22,000 of which left their offices yesterday without a job to return to.

Owing to a June 29 ruling by Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin, state correctional facilities, nursing homes, public safety, and payment of medical services are all considered “core functions” of government and will continue operating. Everything else is no longer functional until a budget deal is reached.

The heart of the impasse has always been the $1.8 billion difference between Dayton’s operating budget and the budget proposed by the GOP. Central to the issue is the method for closing Minnesota’s $5 billion budget gap.

Dayton and the GOP leadership haven’t committed to a date for the next round of negotiations.