In order to put the Governor's FY 05 budget requests in perspective, I asked each of the departments to provide the Senate Finance Committee with status reports showing what changes they have implemented in FY 04. I was particularly interested in hearing about steps taken that have resulted in cost savings, streamlined procedures or increased services to the public.

All departments have reported to the committee. What follows is a synopsis of FY 04 Department Impact Statements.

Department of Administration

• Human Resources Integration initiative: Consolidated fourteen human resources units into one Division of Personnel. Consolidation will provide standardized, consistent quality services in human resources management. Ultimately saves $545,800 in FY 05 alone.
• Information Technology Plan: Identified ten projects for more efficient management of IT resources. Catalogued inventory of software, hardware, and technology in order to consolidate resources and streamline procurement.
• Renegotiated lease rates and expanded leasing boundaries to provide more options for reduced lease costs. Consolidated central mail services in Juneau.
• Increased Division of Motor Vehicle business partners and revised office hours to include weekend and evening hours to serve the public more efficiently.
• Reduced Office of Public Advocacy costs and supplemental needs. Restructured OPA offices as "separate firms" with clear separations between the civil and criminal sections of the Anchorage office in order to reduce the number of conflicts. Applied consistent efforts to collect public guardian fees resulting in collection increasing 164% over FY 03.
• The Public Defender Agency now refuses to represent parole clients without determination of financial responsibility. They eliminated legal subscriptions and periodicals, restricted travel and expanded volunteer programs.

Department of Community & Economic Development

• Established a new "Office of Economic Development" offering specialized assistance in tourism, fishery and mineral economic sectors. Assistance includes finding new resources for financing, planning and providing business and community information.

Department of Corrections

• Focused on a clear mission of "protecting the public by incarcerating and supervising offenders"
• Increased security staffing in institutions. Added 13 more correctional officers without increasing costs through elimination of a deputy director and several assistant superintendents.
• Emphasized rural hire for correctional officers.

Department of Environmental Conservation

• Air & Water Permitting established specific, predictable, consistent and clear permit requirements with reliable time schedule for issuing permits. Eliminated the backlog of 128 air operating permits and shortened the time to review and issue air construction permits.
• Merged the Division of Administrative Services and Statewide Public Services into one division. This captures savings through efficiencies and reductions in compliance assistance services outside the department's primary duties.

Department of Health & Social Services

• Reconfigured juvenile justice services resulting in a reduced number of youths in detention and cost savings.
• Created a centralized grants section and an automated Internet-based grants system.
• Public Assistance fraud investigative efforts resulted in cost-avoidance, direct savings, and recovery of overpayments totaling over $2.3 million.

Department of Law

• Renegotiated the contract with Westlaw, an on-line legal research provider, to provide access to law books previously purchased in hard copy. The department will save approximately $100,000 - $150,000 per year just on books. Also reduced subscriptions to newspapers and magazines and memberships to law associations.
• Created an electronically maintained brief bank for Department of Law legal briefs, opinions and research allowing Department of Law attorneys to share information across the state.
• Transferred juvenile delinquency matters from the Civil Division to the Criminal Division so that matters will be handled in one division instead of two.
• Civil Division supervisors have been reduced by nine

Department of Military & Veterans Affairs

• Consolidated the Homeland Security Office and the Division of Emergency Services into the Homeland Services management Division.
• Combined the U.S. Attorney General Anti-Terror Task Force and the Governor's Homeland Security Task Force into the Anti-Terrorist Council.
• Increased ROTC enlistment in rural communities.

Department of Public Safety

• Reclassified existing positions resulting in more direct public services.
• Moved four investigators from Anchorage to the field resulting in more efficient investigations and travel savings.
• Created the Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement significantly increasing seizures of illegal alcohol and drugs statewide.

Department of Revenue

• Used form imaging technology and eliminated the applicant receipt letter for the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) application process. The PFD Division reduced data entry staff from 20 to 16.
• Since July 1, 2003, the Department has beat the market indexes on a $6 billion fixed income fund by 6% at half the cost of a private contract.

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