Gov. Dayton and Republican legislative leaders say they have agreed on a budget “framework” that will end the state government shutdown. Until they work out details of the individual budget bills, and the Legislature actually passes those bills without changes, the shutdown continues. Until that happens, we continue our work to make sure we help achieve the best deal possible. Our phone banks continue, our rallies continue, our shutdown actions continue. Until we see the details of the actual budget bills, there is nothing solid to comment on, so we will have no comment. Read more about the timetable of the potential budget settlement and when laid-off members would return to work.

Dayton, House Speaker Kurt Zellers, and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch say they hope to finalize budget bills within days. Once that happens, the governor will call the Legislature into special session. Dayton says that will happen “as soon as possible.”

Once the Legislature is in special session, both the House and Senate must pass identical bills, which then go to the governor for his signature. After that happens, members begin returning to work and the shutdown ends.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the state, AFSCME and other state employee unions, laid-off employees will be called back to the same job they held before the shutdown.

Employees will receive a written, oral or electronic recall notice. Once they receive the notice, they must report back to work within three working days of the recall date. Here is the specific language from the MOU:

Section 7A: “Employees shall make every effort to report to work on the date indicated in the
recall notice, oral, written or electronic. ln any event, employees shall report no later than three (3) working days after that date or at another date as mutually agreed to by the employee and the supervisor/designee.”