A legislative panel voted unanimously on Wednesday to keep the Arizona Department of Commerce alive. The action, taken by a special House-Senate panel, rejected the recommendations of a September report by the Auditor General concluding that the department's work should be eliminated or transferred to other agencies.

An article by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services stated that the issue will be addressed by the full Legislature during the upcoming session, but that this vote suggests there will be little opposition.

Fischer reported that the panel did not support any major changes, but agreed that two functions should not be supported by tax dollars: a job-training program and generation of specific market research reports for international trade to requesting companies.

Fischer reported that Joe Yuhas, Commerce deputy director, argued at length that the Auditor General did not understand the functions of the department. He said the department assisted 52 companies to locate or expand in Arizona during the last year, creating 14,000 jobs at a higher salary level than the state's per-capita income. Yuhas noted that only five states spend fewer General Fund dollars than Arizona on statewide economic development efforts.

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For more information:

"Commerce dept. survives sunset hearing; lawmakers question critical audit" Arizona Capitol Times, 11/19/2003

"Commerce agency survives panel vote," East Valley Tribune, 11/13/2003

"Report questions future of Commerce department," 10/01/03