Senate Finance Subcommitte Looks at Insurance, Energy, Industrial Development, Fish, and Travel

Working in the Capitol building is like being a pin ball.  You go in one direction (Thursday I went to the State Affairs Committee at 8am) and then you find yourself colliding with other balls and going off in a lot of different, unexpected directions.

I met someone who suggested I head to the Senate Finance Commerce subcommittee where I heard people present their budget proposals for the

• Division of Insurance
• Alaska Energy Authority (AEA)
•  Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA)
• Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
• Alaska Tourism Industry Association (ATIA)

Each department had documents, some with more, some with less, data.  They all say they do good things.  And they may well do such things.  Or some might others might not.  The Division of Insurance director Linda Hall sounded sincerely interested in helping Alaskan consumers avoid being caught in insurance fraud.  They were the only group to keep their handout to one piece of two-sided paper.  But I really dislike when agencies use shortened numbers without telling people how many zeroes to add.  I know their budget is more than $6,816.5.  Do I add two zeroes?  Three?  Insiders know this, but how should the public know?  They say the collected $58 million in premium taxes, penalties, and fees.  They got $214,000 in additional payments to Alaskans.  That doesn't sound like much when short hospital event can cost $40,000 or more.
Their public service pledge is "to consistently exceed the expectations of those we serve."  That's cool.  I wonder if they do.  Good goal though.

The others were less consumer protection or regulation sorts of agencies.  At least the Seafood Marketing Institute spells out its budget request total = $18.7 million, of which $3.7 comes from the State of Alaska, $9.1 million from 'voluntary industry assessments' and $5 million from the federal government.  They gave an example of a Brussels Trade Show that cost about $300,000 and netted in $36,000,000 in on site sales and '$394,000,000 more projected for the year.'  And their website has some recipes:

Chef John Besh's Wild Alaska Seafood Recipes You Can Make At Home:

• Blackened Wild Alaska Cod with Fennel and Orange Salad
• Wild Alaska Halibut with Mushrooms and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
• Lacquered Wild Alaska Salmon in Butter Lettuce Cups with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
• Grilled Wild Alaska Cod Tacos

 But this is like buying a home or a car after looking at the brochures.  On the other hand, I don't know what the committee members know already, and who all else has scrutinized the budget. 

Their website is really a marketing site for Alaskan Seafood, so it really wouldn't make sense for them to post the handouts they gave the committee there, but I couldn't figure out how to get the stuff from the committee site either.  You can get their annual report on line.  Sen. Menard praised the Seafood Marketing Institute for their great ads in the Alaska Airline magazine.

 I just don't know enough about this process.  The Alaska Tourism Industry Association handed out a hard copy of a power point presentation.  It was pretty simplistic.  It did list the 2009-2010 44 Marketing Committee Volunteers, but did NOT list the 24 members of the Board of Directors. 

[Photo is, I believe, Patti Mckay of ATIA reporting to Sens. Menard and Thomas. Double click photos to enlarge.]

The Republican Party is the one that argues most strenuously for the free market and against government intervention.  Except for the Division of Insurance, the agencies at the meeting seem to be government agencies helping out businesses.  As a Democrat, I tend to think that government has a role in helping to stimulate the economy, but I certainly would have asked more rigorous questions than the two Republicans on the panel, Sen. Thomas and Sen. Menard, to be sure that the money was going to give a significant return.  There just wasn't enough information in any of the handouts for me to be able to judge.  And there wasn't much time to ask many probing questions either. 


Chip Thoma from Responsible Cruising in Alaska was there and gave me a copy of a list of questions for the committee to ask ATIA.  Thoma wants to know why the state's share of ATIA is now 75% when it used to be 50%. [These are not my figures.]  He also wants to see backup for the information ATIA offers and questions the lobbying efforts of ATIA in conjunction with the Alaska Cruise Association, which, he says:

• oppose the one-halibut limit on guided sport fishing, a major cruise ship excursion that pays large monetary commissions to the cruise lines.
• oppose the state cruise passenger tax, which pays for cruise-related capital projects in 12 ports throughout the state
• criticize the legislature for 'hoarding' cruise tax moneys
• support cruise lines and the ACA filing a federal lawsuit against the state cruise passenger tax

I don't know enough about any of these agencies to know if they are using the money responsibly and effectively, but I do know that the handouts they gave the committee certainly didn't give enough information either.  

And, to continue the pinball analogy, when I went into the hall, I bumped into a former student and when I went to look for him a little later, he was in a nearby room pitching for the Alaska Humanities Forum.  This constant sudden change in trajectory due to random meetings is probably okay for a blogger, but I wonder how legislators and staffers get anything real thinking done.