• Road maintenance: Are state highways open and snowplows operating?
• Transit operations: Are local transit systems running?
• Additional weather conditions: Is wind, cold or ice a factor?
• Other considerations: Are power or heating systems affected?

Depending on conditions, the decision to declare an emergency can be statewide or limited to a specific portion of the state.

Minnesota Management & Budget commissioner may declare weather-related closures of state facilities

If a severe weather situation is occurring anywhere in the state, Minnesota Management & Budget receives notification from the State Duty Officer at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Management Division. The Duty Officer also provides MMB with information about road conditions, snowplowing and transit operations, as obtained from local law enforcement agencies. All available information about severe weather and related conditions is considered by the Commissioner of MMB, who then decides whether it is necessary to declare an emergency and close state facilities.

NOTE: The MMB commissioner may also declare emergency closures of State facilities in the event of disasters not related to the weather.

Regardless of whether MMB declares a weather emergency, and provided essential services are covered, appointing authorities may close facilities if there is a concern for the health and safety of their employees. Appointing Authorities should follow their internal agency procedures for these situations.

Employee Work Attendance & Pay During Emergencies

• Any decision to close State facilities due to a weather emergency does not apply to "essential" employees who are required by their agency to work during weather emergencies.
• When the MMB commissioner declares State facility closures due to weather emergencies, non-essential state employees (who are not required by their agency to report for duty during a weather emergency) are permitted to be absent from work, and receive pay subject to the terms of Administrative Procedure 5.4.
• In situations where agencies decide to close their facilities without receiving a weather emergency declaration from MMB (Appointing Authority Closures), non-essential employees may be absent from work -- but must make up the time or cover the absence with annual leave, compensatory leave, or leave without pay. However, if MMB contemporaneously or subsequently declares an emergency, then non-essential employees may be absent but will receive pay subject to the terms of Administrative Procedure 5.4.
• MMB recognizes that there may be unique individual situations (due to an employee’s location or other factors) in which weather conditions make it impossible for that employee to get to work -- even though an official weather emergency has not been declared. In such circumstances, employees who cannot make it to work should arrange to make up the lost time, by using compensatory time or annual leave to cover the absence.