Anchorage -- The Commission on Privatization and Delivery of Government Services, established by the Legislature to examine the possibilities of turning some state functions over to private industry, has now received recommendations from 12 of its 15 subcommittees.

Among the Subcommittee recommendations are:

• Merge the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority into the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, producing anticipated savings of $2.5 million;
• Require the State budget to be comprehensible to Alaskans and establish firm timelines for development and reporting of the budget;
• House and Senate Finance Committee hearings should be held into privatization of misdemeanor prosecutions and of the Department of Law's Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals;
• Department of Natural Resources permitting should be codified and timely, fees should be standardized, and minor permitting should be rapid and routine;
• Airports, ports, and harbors should be transferred to municipalities or port authorities, road maintenance should be performed by the lowest level of local government, and a demonstration project for privatized road maintenance should be established.

The full 11-member commission will accept reports from its remaining subcommittees through the end of November. After hearing from interested and affected parties and receiving public input, the commission will vote on subcommittee recommendations. The commission will submit a written report to the governor and the legislature by January 1, 2000.

The complete subcommittee recommendations will be available to the public from Local Legislative Information Offices and on the commission's web site, "www.privatizealaska.org."