AIDEA, a public corporation

Created in 1967, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) is a public corporation of the State of Alaska with a mission “to provide financing for Alaska’s business community, to expand the economy of the state, and to provide jobs for Alaskans.” AIDEA was created as “a public corporation of the state and a body corporate and politic constituting a political subdivision within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, but with separate and independent legal existence.” AIDEA’s authorizing statutes are central to AIDEA’s approach of increasingly limited legislative and public oversight as AIDEA has asserted repeatedly that no legislative approval is needed to finance or engage in “economic development.” 

AIDEA’s structure as a separate, though public, corporation allows it to operate entirely through its governor-appointed Board. There is no legislative approval of board members or project financing. When a bill was passed by the legislature to use some of the hundreds of millions of dollars AIDEA is just sitting on to help our state fund critical services and education, Governor Dunleavy vetoed it. It is doubly frustrating to know that AIDEA is earning a relatively low 3.8% return on their investments while the permanent fund earned 9.4%. It has become increasingly clear that AIDEA has become a slush fund used to do the political bidding of the one person who can appoint them to their roles, making increasingly controversial and risky investments based on politics, not economic realities.

Numerous AIDEA board meetings have drawn droves of Alaskan public comments in spite of significant obstacles due to severely lacking public process by AIDEA. AIDEA has amassed a long track record of misallocated and often secretive investments in principally extractive industries across our state while Alaskans have pleaded for information, explanation, involvement, and foresight for the generations of Alaskans to come. It is clear that while AIDEA claims to act in the best interests of the Alaskan public, its lack of transparency and past disregard of public process prevents AIDEA from fully achieving its mission of economic prosperity–resulting in outcomes that are often actually at odds with both long term growth and public opinion. 

AIDEA Board & Executive Team

Membership of the AIDEA board is limited to seven (7) members, all appointed by the Governor. 

The AIDEA board consists of two (2) state executive department heads–the Commissioner of Revenue and Commissioner of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. These commissioners can in turn designate an assistant, if necessary, to act in the commissioner’s place at a meeting. 

Finally, the AIDEA board also includes five (5) public members appointed by the governor, each of whom is to have private sector expertise and demonstrated leadership skills. Right now there are only 4 public members as Julie Sande’s seat has yet to be filled.