Shutdown Roundup: Core functions must stay open, judge rules

Some notes and the biggest headlines regarding the state government shutdown that will begin Friday if Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders can’t reach a budget deal in time:

• A Ramsey County judge ruled Wednesday that the state’s core services must remain open if the shutdown occurs, the Star Tribune reported. In her ruling, Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin said she agreed with Dayton in that state functions, which serve Minnesotans in prison, nursing homes, veterans home and state hospitals, must continue to be funded. Gearin also ruled health care must be funded, and that computer system maintenance, internet security and other basic functions also must go on.

However, Gearin offered rulings on few specific services beyond the basics.

“The Court believes that the negative impact of a government shutdown on these programs does not justify a court in over-extending its authority. … the Court must construe any authority it has to order government spending to maintain critical core functions in a very narrow sense,” she wrote.

Dayton later released a statement, saying, “While I am still reviewing Chief Judge Gearin’s order, it appears that her order arrived at the same middle ground as my Administration, and essentially agreed with my list of critical services that must continue … Let me be clear: I would much prefer to find a fair and balanced budget solution, rather than a government shutdown. I am continuing to work toward a compromise needed to move forward.”

• Minnesota’s two largest employee unions Wednesday approved an agreement that will “protect all the rights of laid-off workers while saving taxpayers millions in layoff costs if state government shuts down Friday,” according to a Minnesota Association of Professional Employees press release.

“This agreement protects our health insurance and it ensures that we will be able to return to work with all our benefits intact,” Eliot Seide, director of AFSCME  Council 5 —  the other union — and chief negotiator of the deal, said in a statement.  “But, it also means laid-off state workers won’t get severance or vacation checks during the shutdown.  Once again, state employees are doing their part to fix the budget.”

MAPE is a union of 13,000 state workers and AFSCME Council 5 is a union of 43,000 public and non-profit workers throughout Minnesota, including 18,000 state employees.

According to its website, MAPE plans to hold a Shutdown Eve Vigil Pre-Vigil Cookout on Thursday at 9 p.m. on the steps of the State Capitol.

• The Immigration Law Center sent an email Wednesday, detailing which services of the organization will be most affected by the shutdown. The list includes:

• Green card applications (legal permanent residency) for newly arrived refugees and their children, predominantly from Burma, Laos and Somalia.
• Citizenship applications for refugees with 5 years of legal permanent residency.
• Citizenship applications for disabled refugees with 5 years of legal permanent residency.
• Pro Bono services and general operating support of our statewide immigration cases.
• U-visa applications for immigrant victims of serious crimes who work with police to stop crimes committed against vulnerable immigrants and their children.

• Minnesota Public Radio reported the Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the state what will happen if the agency needs to a respond to an incident at one of the state’s two nuclear power plants if a shutdown cannot be avoided.

FEMA Region V Administrator Andrew Velasquez sent a letter to state Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Kris Eide last week, asking if “staff and resources will be maintained sufficiently” to meet the state’s responsibilities in responding to an incident at the Prairie Island or Monticello nuclear plants.

Doug Neville, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said Eide was reviewing Dayton’s list of core services to ensure nothing was overlooked, but expected him to respond to FEMA by Wednesday.