Anchorage -- Senate President Drue Pearce and Speaker of the House Brian Porter Monday announced appointment of the 11-member Commission on Privatization and Delivery of Government Services.

The commission is authorized by Senate Bill 33, sponsored by Senator Jerry Ward (R-Anchorage/Kenai), which the Governor signed into law last month. The members will examine the possibilities of turning some state functions over to private industry. The commission will submit a written report to the governor and the legislature by January 1, 2000.

Senator Pearce appointed Senator Ward as Co-Chair. Other Senate appointees are: Senator Al Adams (D-Kotzebue); Mr. Bill Allen, General Manager of Doyon Properties, Inc. of Fairbanks; and Mr. William Prosser, Chairman of Cook Inlet Region, Inc.

Speaker Porter appointed Representative John Cowdery (R-Anchorage) as Co-Chair. Other House appointees are: Representative Tom Brice (R-Fairbanks); former House Speaker and Anchorage Mayor Tom Fink; and Ms. Helvi Sandvik, President of NANA Development, Inc.

The remaining three committee members authorized by SB 33 are: Anchorage Assembly Chair George Weurch, appointed by the Alaska Municipal League; Ms. Kathryn Thomas of Kenai, appointed by the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce; and Mr. Don Valesko, appointed by the AFL-CIO.

Senator Ward and Representative Cowdery announced that the Commission's first meeting will be at 8 a.m. July 20, 1999, in the 2nd Floor Conference Room of the Anchorage Legislative Information Office, 716 West 4th Avenue. The meeting will be teleconferenced. Members of the public and the press are invited to attend.