About 40,000 state employees got layoff warnings on Friday as Minnesota's agency heads huddled behind closed doors to hash out plans for a possible government shutdown next month.
As the state warned employees they may be unemployed come July, the Department of Transportation (MnDOT) alerted local governments that the road construction money spigot might dry up in a shutdown. The state also told agencies to freeze all hiring "effective immediately."
"It is not business as usual," said Jim Schowalter, Minnesota Management and Budget commissioner, who led a cabinet meeting Friday focused on the budget and the possible shutdown.
The alerts were just a few parts of the massive puzzle being pieced together in homes, cities, agencies and offices as officials calculate what a shutdown could mean. It would start on July 1 if lawmakers and the governor do not agree to a two-year budget by the end of the month.
Although leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton have repeatedly negotiated over the state's budget, they appear no closer to agreement than they were months ago. If there's no deal by the end of the month, employees will be forced out of work, road projects could stop and parks could be shuttered because the state will have no power to spend.
While state officials will ask the courts for authority to continue essential services, it is unclear exactly what would remain open and which employees would have a job if it comes to shutdown.
Dayton said the layoff notices were "a grim reminder of a deadline that is just 20 days away, and the reality of what a lack of compromise and agreement will mean not only for those thousands of hard-working state employees, their families and their communities, but also for the important services they provide to Minnesotans in every corner of our state."
He also used the opportunity to bash Republicans.
