Minnesota State Government Shuts Down, Oakdale Legislators Disappointed

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.

“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.

Dayton continued: “I offered a plan to raise the taxes of only those Minnesotans who make more than $1 million per year. That is less than 0.3 percent of the state population. Despite many hours of negotiations, the Republican caucus remains adamantly opposed to new taxes.”

Oakdale’s legislators, who waited at the Capitol until late Thursday night in case they’d be called in for a vote, said they were disappointed an agreement couldn’t be reached.

“It’s most unfortunate,” said Sen. Chuck Wiger (DFL-Maplewood. “I think the governor was being reasonable. If he has to go more, so be it.”

Although Rep. Nora Slawik said she wasn’t surprised, she too said she was disappointed in the lack of a compromise.

“The negotiations did not change much from session,” she said. “Dayton was offering compromise and new revenue and the Republicans weren’t and that’s disappointing.”

She said the Republican offers raised revenue by shifting school payments and selling bonds against future tobacco settlement money.

“I think it’s wrong to borrow for the future of Minnesota,” she said. “It’s creating more deficit.”

Now the reality of a shutdown will set in for her constituents, Slawik said. After sending out a newsletter update she said she heard back from people who were passionate on both sides of the issue. Some really wanted a shutdown, and some didn’t.

“People are using this as a litmus test of government services,” Slawik said. “If it really affects them, we’re going to hear a lot about it and if it doesn’t affect them, they’re going to say it doesn’t matter.”

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.

There appeared a glimmer of hope early Thursday evening. But around 8:30 p.m., Rep. Tony Cornish (R-Good Thunder) 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 prophetic. Fiscal year 2011-12 began at 12:01 a.m. today and, without a budget in place, the State of Minnesota was unable to fund its myriad services or pay salaries to its almost 33,000 state employees—22,000 of which left their offices today 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 Gov. 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.

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

Slawik said she expects there to be a cooling off period over the holiday weekend with negotiations beginning again in earnest on July 5.