The shutdown, due to budget impasse, is the first in the state's history and the first state shutdown since Tennessee in 2002. State legislators are continuing to negotiate on the budget, but have yet to come up a compromise.

Transportation is the most affected state service. Driver's permit testing sites are shutdown, as are highway rest areas. About a fifth of the Department of Transportation's 4,800 workers are on duty, mostly on road-construction projects and emergency repairs and maintenance.

A protracted shutdown--expected to last more than a month--could end up affecting the transit system in the Twin Cities, according to the Metropolitan Council, which operates or provides funding to five types of transit programs. The largest of the five programs is Metro Transit, which provides more than 90% of the regular route bus service in the Twin Cities area, and operates the Hiawatha light-rail line. More than 40% of Downtown Minneapolis workers, 20% of Downtown St. Paul workers and thousands of University students commute to work or school by transit.

Another Metro Council service that could be affected is the Metro Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which administers to two major federally funded programs: the Rent Assistance program providing 5,900 Section 8 rental vouchers to seniors, families and persons with disabilities, and the Family Affordable Housing Program, which rents 150 housing units owned and operated by the council to low-income households.

Last month, a judge ordered the state to keep providing such essential services as state police patrols, nursing homes and food inspections. State legislators were able to pass a compromise bill to keep state parks from closing, averting them from being closed the Fourth of July weekend.

Instant Insights /

State Shutdown Idles Employees, Affects Transportation

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