DP: Is this your first time reading the ADN?!  Ideas have been posted here for months on how to make major cuts to state government.  Here is how to cut over a billion$ ... . Look at the list of state agencies: http://alaska.gov/akdir1.html A significant number of the agencies and state functions should be handled by the private sector. For starters: AHFC, AIDEA, AGDC, energy subsidies, oil tax credits (which is essentially angel investing), student loans, non-profits can do a lot of health and social services functions, running a what is essentially a "fantasy mutual fund" that supports retiree pensions and benefits we can't afford.  No state agencies have been cut yet, no paradigm shifts in the way the state does business have been implemented ... so the state hasn't even begun to get serious about cutting yet.