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June 30, 2005

Shutdown?

Look, State Employees - and I know there are a few of you who read this blog - I feel for ya. I really do.

I've never worked for the government in my life. Never even had the opportunity, had I wanted to. Come to think about it, I've only applied for one government job in my life (two if you count MPR).

No, I'm a private sector guy. I work "at will", no union. I have a defined-contribution pension (that's still rebuilding after a divorce and after 2003), spotty and declining benefits, and no assurance that I'm going to have a job next week.

In the past two years, I've had four months of complete unemployment, five more months of gross underemployment (40-60 hours of freelance contract work a month), a one-month scramble between jobs (ameliorated by plenty of freelance work on the fly - for which I got paid 45 days later), an unplanned interruption in the job (which turned out to be only two days, but still...) - and nobody knows what next week will bring.

So you state employees will be out, if at all, a few days or weeks (and vacation pay, which I don't get, will cover a chunk of that). Inconvenient at best, a hassle, maybe a hardship for some. Par for the course for most of the people who pay your salaries.

That's what I thought.

Then I saw the actual scope of the "shutdown".

Courtesy of the Strib, here's what's staying open:

ADMINISTRATIVE

• Payroll and administrative services for retained staff and security for all state property.

BENEFITS/SERVICES

• Processing claims for unemployment insurance; injured workers' compensation; Social Security disability payments; cash, child care and food assistance; adoption assistance payments; government health plans and payments to many Medical Assistance providers.

• Health and welfare programs such as guardianship services, senior ombudsman, birth and death certificates; Women, Infants and Children; senior nutrition and home-delivered meals, Emergency Food Assistance Program, toxicology help line and HIV/AIDS services.

• Residential and outpatient facilities for veterans, the elderly, mentally ill, chemically dependent, developmentally disabled, deaf, deaf/blind, hard of hearing, and sexual predators.

LICENSING

• License renewals for accountants, architects, behavioral health therapists, boiler operators, building contractors, chiropractors, drivers (commercial and regular), electricians, health professionals, insurance agents, lawyers, nursing homes, plumbers, real estate agents and social workers.

• New licenses for boiler operators, dentists, doctors, environmental professionals, lawyers, teachers and school administrators.

PUBLIC SAFETY

• Operations of State Patrol, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, state fire marshal; Stillwater lift bridge, highway ramp meters and toll lanes; aeronautic navigation and pilot weather systems; Gopher One buried cable and pipeline information service; Agriculture Department's nuclear and agricultural chemical emergency response; biological control and soybean rust programs; farmers market nutrition program.

• Monitoring and control of air quality, toxic waste sites, disease outbreaks, invasive species of exotic plant diseases and pests.

• Enforcement of laws governing hunting, fishing, boating, wetlands and vehicles.

• Department of Natural Resources firearms and vehicle safety training, fire suppression, flood and dam safety and hatchery and tree nursery maintenance.

REGULATION

• Disciplinary actions against dentists, doctors, lawyers and nursing homes.

• Inspections of dairy products, grain, fruits, meat, seed potatoes, vegetables; drug researchers, drug wholesalers, home health-care facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies; boilers, car dealers, carnivals, electrical wiring, elevators, high-pressure piping, manufactured homes, new buildings, pipelines, plumbing, swimming pools, well-drillers; municipal water systems, school buses.

• Regulation of child labor; commercial livestock feed, livestock weighing, truck weights; workplace safety.

• Investigation of suspected cases of rabies and foreign animal diseases; highway crashes and fatalities; complaints about health professionals, nursing homes and other health facilities; complaints against lawyers and veterinarians.

RECREATION

• Minnesota Zoo: fully staffed and operating.

SCHOOLS

• Continued funding for most state education aids, including charter schools, Head Start, special ed and breakfast, lunch and milk programs; Preparatory Assistance Summer School at the Faribault Academies for the Deaf and Blind continues as scheduled.

TRANSPORTATION

• Construction of 200 state highway projects, plus new headquarters buildings in St. Paul for the departments of agriculture, health and human services.

• Metro Transit and other transit services for at least one month; Metro Mobility for the disabled for the duration of a shutdown.

OTHER

• Housing Finance Agency, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Agency.

Wow. I didn't even know that Minnesota employed seed potato inspectors, much less that a court would consider them an essential service.

And the Minnesota Zoo? Essential? I mean, beyond feeding the animals? I love the Zoo and all, but...?

In contrast, here's what'll close:

BENEFITS/SERVICES • MinnesotaCare will not take new enrollments in the state health plan for the working poor.

• Injured and displaced workers will lose state call-in, vocational and rehabilitation services. Similar services for the blind also suspended.

FUNDING

• No farm loans through the Rural Finance Agency and applications for Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program farmland set-asides.

• No funding for libraries, early childhood programs, adult education, local public health agencies, environmental grants and loans for businesses, individuals, nonprofits and units of government.

LICENSING

• New driver's licenses won't be issued, and driver testing suspended. Most new professional licenses won't be available, either.

• No permits for air and water quality and most oversize-overweight truck loads, except for construction equipment and load hauling at highway projects.

OTHER

• No enforcement of minimum wage, prevailing wage and overtime laws, along with routine workplace safety inspections.

• Arts Board, Barber and Cosmetology Examiners Board, Dietetics and Nutrition Practice Board, Disability Council, Environmental Assistance, Explore Minnesota Tourism, Mediation Services, Ombudsperson for Families, Physical Therapy Board, Public Utilities Commission, Water and Soil Resources Board, Workers Compensation Court of Appeals.

PUBLIC SAFETY

• No traffic information via message boards, radio broadcasts, video feeds and the Internet.

• No gasoline pump inspection and implementation of state 2 percent biodiesel requirement.

RECREATION

• State parks, picnic areas and campsites, except for Soudan Underground Laboratory support staff. A bill that could keep all parks open may be acted upon today.

• Most highway rest areas, some of which close as early as today. Eight rest areas operated by other parties will remain open.

• No public tours of the governor's residence today.

Is it just me, or is this the lowest-impact "Shutdown" in history?

News reports say the "shutdown" will affect 16,000 employees. Drastic?

I checked out this report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor; Minnesota employs 50,000 people in executive branch offices alone! The "Shutdown" will affect less than 1/3 of state employees!

The report has a few interesting asides:

Lower-skill jobs in state employment pay relatively more than comparable private sector jobs, and higher-skill jobs pay relatively less.
And
...As a group, state employees are paid more than private sector employees because the state workforce contains a higher concentration of professional workers and a lower concentration of sales, craft, and assembly-line positions.
Here's a part I thought was interesting:
Minnesota paid its state employees higher salaries in 1998 than most of the 24 states participating in a widely used salary survey. Minnesota's salaries ranked in the upper third of participating states for 87 of 107 comparable positions, and Minnesota paid the highest salary of all participating states for 21 positions. Minnesota salaries were above the average paid by a subset of Midwestern states for over 80 percent of the positions.
We don't know how this compares with cost of living in the other surveyed states, which would be an interesting survey.

But perhaps those "Happy to Pay for a Better Minnesota" lawn signs should read "Happy For You To Pay Me To Make Minnesota Better. For Me", I guess.


Posted by Mitch at June 30, 2005 06:53 AM | TrackBack
Comments

State fo Minnesota employees are the biggest bunch of whiny-baby pantywastes in the history of mankind. Period.

Posted by: Dave at June 30, 2005 10:15 AM

This "shutdown" is pure liberal politics, from begining to end.

Granted the "shutdown" will have a minor impact on the taxpayers of the state, the services that will close were selected simply based upon those that will have the greatest marketing impact.

No traffic info ensures that all motorists are aware and consently reminded of the shutdown. Libraries, state parks (over the 4th of July)and licensing being shutdown also causes the greatest number of people to become aware of the impase.

Of course, not enforcing minimum wage standards, workplace standards, MNCare etc. make for great articles in the Strib and MonkeyBoy rants on AirAmerica about how we are all unsafe, being taken advantage of and we need big gov't to protect us from the evil corporations.

Posted by: GeneK at June 30, 2005 10:20 AM

We'll have to be sure we have all the employees' summer cabin (or Florida marina) phone numbers, so we can call them when the shutdown is over.

Posted by: RBMN at June 30, 2005 10:30 AM

Got just got an email from my boss that as soon as the shut down occurs, safety Glasses will be optional on the factory floor. We have also hired a gang of thugs with screw drivers to remove all the safety guards from the machinery the minute the minute the workplace safety enforcement goes offline.

We have also contracted an animal trainer to bring in monkeys for the purpose of eating bananas and leaving skins all over the shop. That's because we've been listening to Wendy Wilde and so we know that workplace accidents are sure source of corporate profit!!!

Posted by: rick at June 30, 2005 10:54 AM

Dear state workers:

I don't feel for ya

Sincerely

Marty Andrade

Posted by: Marty at June 30, 2005 11:13 AM

Two things:
1. Why do we have non-essential services again? Shouldn't the state (with my money) only be doing essential things? I say shut down the non-essential services, and keep them shut down.

2. The list of "essential" sevices seems, well, a bit long, if you ask me. There can be argument about what "essential" really means, but for goodness sake, it should be short and well-defined.

Posted by: Tom at June 30, 2005 11:47 AM

Actually, the traffic will improve. Every time there is a government holiday I find getting to work is far easier, showing how many people work for the government.

Posted by: Paul at June 30, 2005 01:32 PM

Where's Melanie?

Posted by: Colleen at June 30, 2005 02:54 PM

I know a number of government employees and they (like many unionized people) have *months* of annual vacation time. Much of that time goes unused because they can't actually take the time off. I think quite a few government employees will actually be thrilled with the vacation.

The vacation time at MPR isn't that generous, in case you were wondering.

Posted by: Michael Lomker at June 30, 2005 03:42 PM

I'm sure more people depend on traffic monitoring via radio, tv and the internet than depend on the zoo being fully open.

Pure and utter Barbara Streisand.

When we have to deal with this kind of crap, it always makes me wonder when the Republicans are going to stop "trying to reach a consensus" with a group that is not interested in "trying to reach a consensus", and will kick them to the curb like they ALWAYS will do in return.

When we have a majority, again, that is.

Posted by: FJBill at June 30, 2005 04:34 PM

My wife's a computer babysitter for the state. She's not deemed "essential," as the bigshots can troubleshoot their own computer problems for a few days. No argument from her - she's floating in the backyard pool today (keep your shirts on, bloggers, it's one of those inflatable $119 pools from Menards).

But as my bus passed the State Capitol on my way to work downtown St. Paul today, I was pleased to note that the executives had painstakingly pared down the list of services to designate the essential, core function of government as including . . . mowing the lawn. Yep, grounds crew hard at it.

Sheesh.
.

Posted by: nathan bissonette at July 1, 2005 10:33 AM

Looking for whose to blame for the Minnesota shutdown ?
ME.
Yup, blame me. See I wasted my vote believing that someone promoting fiscal prudence and shared sacrifices. I should have realized that Tim Penny could not win and voted for Roger Moe. Don't you agree that Roger Moe would have forced a compromise ?

Somehow, Tim Pawlenty does not realize that a majority of Minnesota voters did not vote for him.
That stated, he proudly noted the good actions of the current session. Yep, he's right. The bonding bill got done ... oh, wait a second, wasn't the bonding bill supposed to be done last year. The Conceal and Carry Law was enacted ... oh, wait, didn't they do that last year .. oh, yah, the Courts ruled that was improperly enacted by the legislature, so its a redo. And surely it was a personal pleasure for GovTim to veto of the gas-tax bill ... passed by MN Republicans and DFLers.

The political axiom is that incumbents get reelected because of their name recognition and the voters' short memories. Well, I got a memory.

One serious suggestion for the legislature, next year, Dean Johnson and House Speaker Steve Sviggum should not offer their services as leaders.

Posted by: McPherson Hall at July 2, 2005 08:17 AM

Problem Solved.

Stop using Gov Services.
Stop giving the gov money.

This Country Is Already Blessed With BUSHY Mistakes.

Let's All Move To China.

Posted by: Smart Guy at July 6, 2005 04:30 AM

It amazes me that they can't get it together. Any other job if you don't get your work done in a timely matter you would be sitting on the unemployment line.

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