As local legislators keep tabs on the state budget crisis, some state workers are starting to prepare for the shutdown.

About 800 Minnesota state employees will start getting layoff notices this week as Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration prepares for a possible government shutdown on July 1, officials said Tuesday. More layoff notices will probably come next week depending on union stipulations, according to Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin.

The Minnesota Management and Budget office said State Patrol troopers, Department of Natural Resources conservation officers and licensed officers of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension would get notices Wednesday. Workers at those agencies are represented by the Minnesota Law Enforcement Association, and have contracts that require layoff notices by certain dates.

Just because troopers have received layoff notices doesn’t mean they’re going to get laid off, according to Rep. Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea.

“Anything with public safety at some point would be deemed essential so they could keep working,” Murray said.

However, others around worry and wait to see what happens.

Jeanine Vorland, Department of Natural Resources area wildlife manager based in Owatonna, said she hasn’t seen a notice yet, but she suspects they will be hitting her office soon.

Because the State has threatened government shutdowns and layoffs before, Vorland and others are prepared to “lock the doors and close the gates,” on the entire office, she said.

A new two-year state budget is supposed to be in place by July 1, but an impasse over taxes and spending between Dayton, a Democrat, and Republicans who control the Legislature has cast doubt on whether that will happen. A much larger group of about 35,000 state employees are due to get layoff notices July 10.

Some workers will be kept on if a court determines they perform critical services. That may particularly affect law enforcement employees. State Patrol troopers were among the employees deemed critical during a partial state shutdown in 2005 and were kept on the job.

But Vorland and her co-workers know they may not be deemed “critical,” and are preparing for the worst.

“I do know some of my colleagues are quite worried,” she said. “For some of the younger guys just starting their career and that sort of thing, it’s really tough to have your job just end on you.”

The regular legislative session ended May 23 with no budget deal between Dayton and GOP leaders, and in the week since there’s been no sign of progress between the two sides. Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, said Tuesday that she expected negotiations to resume soon. Dayton has yet to officially call for a special session, which would need to happen this month in order to avoid a shutdown.

A legislative commission on planning and fiscal policy is scheduled for this week, according to Poppe. That means committee leaders can hold public hearings and discuss budget issues outside the special session.

“Some things may come up through that,” Poppe said.

The state Department of Administration on Tuesday warned private contractors, vendors and grantees that do business with the state that their work and payments likely will be suspended July 1 unless a new state budget is in place.

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.