Dayton to sign Minn. budget bills, ending shutdown

Published 7:55 am Wednesday, July 20, 2011

ST. PAUL — Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton will sign a two-year state budget into law that will end the nation’s longest state government shutdown in a decade.

Dayton’s office announced the 9 a.m. Wednesday signing plans after the Legislature worked into the early morning hours to send him a set of budget bills.

Dayton’s signature on the bills will formally end the 20-day shutdown, but administration officials have cautioned that they need time to call 22,000 state employees back to work, reopen state parks, restart road work and get back to normal operations.

Email newsletter signup

Dayton Chief of Staff Tina Smith said Tuesday that state employees would get 24-hour notice before returning to work.

Top Dayton adviser Jim Schowalter said it could take weeks to work through backlogs and clean up parks and other sites.