The state shutdown entered its third day Monday, and many government offices were closed, with mostly public safety services, state parks and some social services benefits programs in operation.

Gov. Paul LePage announced an administrative closure of state offices late Sunday. That will allow state workers to take administrative leave with pay, if the Legislature funds government retroactively to July 1 when a state budget finally passes and clears LePage’s office.

He also said he will give compensatory time off to employees who were designated as emergency workers under the state shutdown and therefore had to work Monday.

Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said in an interview that 421 of his department’s 427 employees are not working. “As time goes on, it just becomes a bigger and bigger backlog,” Dunlap said of the work not accomplished.

Dunlap said services such as issuing authenticated documents or conducting searches for birth certificates, are on hold. He said most corporate filings were due June 1, but there are typically several thousand filings that are late and those sent in at the end of the month won’t be processed until the shutdown is over.

New filings to form companies or partnerships will also have to wait, he said, as will issuing official copies of professional certifications and notary public renewals.

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The biggest impact as the shutdown lingers for those used to relying on the office’s services will likely be car dealers and individuals who need to transfer a car title, he said, because DMV offices won’t be open for processing that paperwork.

“That’s all on hold right now because there’s no one to do that work,” he said. “Every day that goes by, when you think about the number of transactions we do, it just piles up.”

Other state services that will not be in operation during the shutdown include:

The Maine State Aquarium and the Maine State Library are closed.

LOTTERY

The Maine State Lottery office will be closed and a number of multistate lottery games will be unavailable. These include Powerball, Mega Millions, Hot Lotto and Lucky for Life. Instant tickets, Megabucks, Pick 3, Pick 4, Gimme5 and World Poker Tour will remain on sale.

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COURTS

About half of Maine’s 36 courthouses will be closed, but at least one courthouse in each county will remain open each day. A full list is available at of the Maine Judicial Branch website.

All traffic cases, civil violations, foreclosures, family matters cases and most drug treatment court cases, general civil proceedings and other proceedings will not be heard, but criminal proceedings will continue.

A full list of available court services may be found on the judicial branch website.

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

TANF, SNAP and MaineCare payments will be made.

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The Office of MaineCare Services will process claims as scheduled July 5.

The Office of Child and Family Services will make scheduled July 5 child care subsidy and child welfare payments.

The Office for Family Independence will make July payments for the TANF and SNAP programs, and accept and make eligibility determinations for MaineCare, TANF and SNAP.

The Office of Child and Family Services will be staffed to receive calls related to child abuse and neglect and respond to the needs of children in foster care and adults under public guardianship or conservationship. Adult and Children Emergency Services will accept referrals for Adult Protective Services regarding abuse, neglect or exploitation. Caseworkers will continue working to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect and will provide care and shelter for children in state custody.

DHHS will continue to receive and process child support payments.

The Office of Aging and Disability Services will continue to operate the Crisis Prevention and Intervention Team. Referrals for Adult Protectives Services will be received by Adult and Children Emergency Services. This process is standard procedure as followed after hours and weekends during non-shutdown periods.

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The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention will continue to operate the Health and Environmental Testing Lab, and will be prepared to respond to public health, infectious disease or foodborne illness reports.

The WIC program will continue to function.

The Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services will staff four emergency staff members to include one rapid responder for mental health and substance abuse crisis statewide, a data analyst to oversee the Prescription Monitoring Program, a crisis services manager for youth and adult services, and a substance abuse program specialist to handle placement of individuals in an emergency.

Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center and Riverview Psychiatric Center will remain fully staffed and operational.

LABOR AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment benefit services will be provided on a limited, emergency basis. The guidance below is for claims filed the week of July 2–8; the Department of Labor will issue additional guidance if such a shutdown lasts longer than a week.

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The Unemployment Customer Service Claims Centers will be closed, and customer service representatives will not be available. All initial claims for benefits, meaning that they have never filed for unemployment benefits in Maine or have not filed for unemployment in the previous 12 months, must be filed via the website at file4UI.com or maine.gov/labor/unemployment.

Claimants needing to reopen a benefit year must also file online at file4UI.com or maine.gov/labor/unemployment.

Claimants currently filing for unemployment benefits can either use the automated telephone service at 1-800-593-7660 or the website to file a continued claim.

All claimants must still register on the Maine JobLink at maine.gov/joblink. However, if claimants cannot access their older account, they will need to wait until the CareerCenters reopen to have the JobLink account reactivated. This will not affect the processing of the unemployment claim during the shutdown, although the claim could be delayed for other reasons.

All claims filed prior to 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 29, are anticipated to be processed as usual. All pending claims filed after 5 p.m. on June 29 will not be processed until July 6 in the case the State still lacks a budget on July 5.

In the event a budget is in place by Sunday, July 2, all pending claims through 5 p.m. on July 3 will be processed on July 5, due to the July 4 holiday. Processing of claims will then proceed as usual.

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LAW ENFORCEMENT

These agencies will be in operation: Maine State Police, Capitol Police, Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and Fire Marshal’s Office, Maine Warden Service, Marine Patrol and biotoxin staff involved in monitoring for red tide, and forest rangers. Maine National Guard facilities will remain staffed.

VETERANS SERVICES

The Bureau of Veterans’ Services will offer limited staffing to process time-sensitive veterans’ claims. The Maine Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery System will be staffed to ensure burials continue uninterrupted.

STATE PARKS & RECREATION AREAS

All state parks will be open and staffed, including Baxter State Park, the Maine Wildlife Park and Swan Island.

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INLAND FISHERIES & WILDLIFE

The online licensing system will be functioning. Hatcheries will be operating with limited staffing.

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

The department will continue responses to environmental cleanup and emergencies. High ozone alerts for poor air quality will be issued, if necessary.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maine State Ferry Service will continue, as will emergency operations for bridges, traffic incidents and disasters. Construction-related staffing will be limited.

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MARINE RESOURCES

DMR offices will be closed, but license applications will still be available on the DMR website. The Public Health Bureau will continue to monitor and manage shellfish harvest areas for biotoxins and post shutdown notices for shellfish harvest areas on the DMR website or by email or text.

The Maine State Aquarium will be closed.

Landings staff will continue to monitor landings reports for menhaden and herring because each fishery is quota-based. The menhaden fishery is scheduled to close Wednesday, July 5.


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