Minnesota’s Government Shuts Down

For the first time in state history, Minnesota was forced to shut down part of its government Friday after budget talks failed.

When legislators missed the Thursday deadline to adopt a new budget, there was no money to pay the bills. An estimated 9,000 state workers were temporarily laid off, and dozens of public services were halted at the beginning of the Fourth of July weekend. Critics expressed fear that the budgetary impasse would stretch on and make the situation far worse.

The problem, say legislators and political observers, is partisan fighting.

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the GOP-controlled House of Representatives are at an impasse with the state Senate, controlled by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party over how to pay for schools and state-funded healthcare, and how much to devote to each. When the fiscal year started Friday, the state had only part of its spending plan in place.

Unlike many states and the federal government, Minnesota doesn’t have a mechanism that allows it to pay bills even if a budget agreement is not in place. It was the first time it couldn’t get its budget in order.

Some legislators played down the disruption to public services. They insisted that closing highway rest stops and not issuing driver’s licenses would have a minor effect on the public.

They pointed out that the governor told reporters Friday that months of negotiations had been for naught and that “everything that was on the table is now off. We’re starting over from scratch.”

That means legislators will again debate a controversial casino project at a racetrack and whether to adopt new taxes or fees on cigarettes.

As of Thursday, Minnesota was one of 10 states trying to complete a budget for the next fiscal year.

If a new budget is not put in place by July 15, laid-off employees would be permanently out of work, and some organizations that rely heavily on state aid might have to shut their doors.

A growing number of Minnesota politicians warn that the public is fed up with stopgap measures from a “do-nothing Legislature.”

The Legislature has 99 Republicans and 101 Democrats. There is one third-party legislator.

“This is a state Legislature that has had so many problems agreeing on anything -- from bonds to budgets to taxes; we’ve held 21 special sessions in the past 25 years,” said Republican state Rep. Rod Hamilton. “No wonder people are tired of all this.”

Officials of both parties said they had tried to protect the public as much as possible from the effects of the partial government shutdown.

An emergency court order last month ensured that most of the state government’s core health and safety services would continue, including the Minnesota State Patrol.

Pawlenty has also signed into law protections for tax collection, colleges and unemployment services. Late Thursday, lawmakers agreed on a bill that would keep the state parks open over the Fourth of July weekend.

But the mood was grim Friday.

Democratic senators said Republicans were trying to make them look bad by trying to add last-minute amendments that would kill the budget.

The Republicans said the Democratic majority was to blame for derailing the process by adjourning too early the previous night. They claimed that Democrats wanted a government shutdown to erode Pawlenty’s efforts to prepare for the 2006 reelection campaign.

“The problem we have is the trust factor,” said Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson. “There simply is no trust.”

At least a dozen homeless children gathered Friday at the Capitol to explain why legislators needed to resolve the impasse.

Victoria Collins, 11, and her mother live in a battered women’s shelter run by the Tubman Family Alliance, a public charity. For the last week, the organization, which relies heavily on state funding, has told staff members that they aren’t sure when they will be paid.

Most have decided to take the risk and show up for work, said Nicki Ziegler, 25, who works at one of the shelters and was laid off.

The shelter told Collins and her mother that the budget crisis could shut the facility.

So Collins, along with some of her friends, decided to try to talk to legislators. For more than an hour, she wandered the statehouse hallways carrying a cardboard sign that read, “Please Decide or We’ll Be Outside.”

Only State Patrol officers working in the building stopped to talk to her. Sitting on a wooden bench outside the Senate chambers, Collins confided, “I’m scared we’ll have to leave.”

The State Patrol was concerned too. Uniformed officers are still being paid and are working in the field, but officials say there is no one at the state information desk to answer phones.

“Minnesota has just earned itself a scarlet letter: an F for failure -- an absolute failure to govern,” said Lawrence Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota.