Schowalter: State government restart could be slow

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Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter says state agencies can restart a day after the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton approve a final budget bill, but it could take weeks for services to return to normalcy.

In a conference call during a break in special session on Tuesday, Schowalter and Dayton Chief of Staff Tina Smith said the restart of state government agencies will depend on when the Legislature passes the bills and the governor signs the final budget. Dayton doesn’t plan to sign any individual bills, but will instead wait for the full package, Smith said.

“You’re not going to see a rolling resumption of services,” she said. “We are going to resume start of all agencies at the same time.”

After the budget is signed, agencies can receive appropriations the following day, but it will be up to each department to determine how long it will take to restore certain services stalled in the shutdown, such as road construction projects and readying the parks for returning visitors.

“We want to get to that, but it’s going to take some time,” Schowalter said, adding that could be “a period of weeks.” “There are a backload of issues that need to be addressed.”

The state is centralizing information about the government reboot on www.bereadymn.com.