So apparently Alaska's going broke.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Alaska Governor Bill Walker issued layoff notes on Monday to more than 10,000 state employees, serving notice of a partial government shutdown that would begin on July 1 unless state lawmakers can agree on a budget for the forthcoming fiscal year. 

Alaska is facing a $3 billion budget shortfall, worsened by a global oil price plunge, and lawmakers have been fighting for more than four months over how to fund day-to-day operations. 

"The amount of difference right now being argued in the legislature is really about 1 percent of the problem," said Walker, an Independent who last year defeated incumbent Republican Sean Parnell. "We want to focus on the 99 percent opportunity we have to solve this." 

The state House and Senate have differed on how much they can cut without hurting services to the 750,000 residents. 

If no agreement is reached, some 10,000 workers doing a range of jobs from communications to issuing permits and certain non-emergency road maintenance would be laid off temporarily, though some personnel could be recalled for emergencies, according to government statements.

Can't say this is terribly surprising.

We all know Sean Parnell was a terrible manager, and we also know that Alaska is deeply affected by changing oil prices. After all, taxes and royalties from the oil companies make up the majority of the state's budget.

Many of us have been arguing for years that Alaska needs greater diversification, but there are a number of lawmakers who are perfectly content to suckle at the oil company teat apparently with no realization that it is going dry.

Sarah Palin was able to take advantage of higher oil prices to buy Alaskan's adulation for an extra $1,200.

But those days are over. Probably forever.

Alaska Dispatch has a list of the jobs and services that could be affected by the partial government shutdown.