So, we don’t have a balanced budget and the clock is ticking toward the end of the biennium—June 30, 2011.

We went through this exercise not too many years ago and it didn’t seem too cataclysmic, so is this year any different?? Absolutely! This go-around the dynamics are dramatically different, so let’s do a bit of a comparison before we lay down a course of action:

Scope of Shutdown

In 2005, the last shutdown, we had a Republican Governor who did not want a shutdown and a Democratic legislature who wanted to “embarrass” the Governor. As a result, the Governor wanted to minimize the impact of the shutdown as much as possible, and several parts of state government were still open for business because only a few of the major budget bills were not signed into law. The scope of what was deemed “essential” and not subject to a shutdown was as wide as the judge would allow. While the Association filed legal papers claiming Medicaid payments for long-term care needed to be named an essential service, it was a relatively easy argument to make. So, there were a few minor inconveniences for the eight days of the partial government shutdown back then, but most Minnesotans didn’t notice anything different, with the exception of the state employees.

Fast forward to 2011. Governor Dayton wanted to get agreement on his “compromise” level of increased spending and reductions to balance the budget—he didn’t get that agreement, so he made good on his word and vetoed all spending bills, with the exception of the agriculture department. While revenues will continue to come in absent a budget agreement, the money coming in is still less than the current law expenditures, there is no budget reserve account to “tap” for unanticipated expenses, and there is no authority to spend the money coming in. Article XI, Section 1 of the Minnesota Constitution states: "No money shall be paid out of the treasury of this state except in pursuance of an appropriation by law."

There are no appropriations for education, including payments to the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System; health and human services, including payments to nursing homes, waivered services, hospitals, clinics and patients; transportation, including construction workers; the environment, including state parks' budgets; public safety, including the State Patrol and state prisons; and state government, including the roughly 34,000 people who work for the state. We can assume that upcoming Court rulings will allow governments to continue making payments for costs essential to life and safety. In general, those include such costs as prison guards, police, and reimbursements for emergency medical care. Aggravating but not dangerous effects, such as closures of state parks (over the July 4th weekend) and halting of construction projects, would not be protected as essential services.

Have you told your legislators yet that they were elected to serve the state of Minnesota and the public good? That they are supposed to get the job done, not point fingers and blame the other guy? Read the rest of the CEO Blog, and then either email me or leave a comment, so I know what you think. And remember to contact your legislators to tell them that this standoff needs to end.

Patti Cullen, CAE
952.851.2487
pcullen@careproviders.org

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