This Web-based document was archived by the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. |
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Goal: Protect Minnesota consumers in a variety of commercial and financial transactions |
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Why
is this goal important?
What is
DOC doing to achieve this goal?
The
Consumer Response Team resolves insurance consumer complaints, when
The
Department has added resources to complete additional consumer
investigations in
The
Department continues to increase public awareness of Unclaimed Property
The
Weights and Measures staff checks the accuracy of
all commercial weighing and
What is
the department's progress on this goal to date?
In calendar year 2006, the
CRT responded to 33,737
phone calls, helping consumers with issues relating to the following
industries: Market
Assurance
Market Assurance Formal Investigations
Unclaimed Property Claims
Processed Since its inception in 1969, the Unclaimed Property Program has returned approximately $200 million to rightful owners. Weights and Measures Weights and Measures light duty staff inspected 43,000 gas pumps in 2006 with a 96% compliance rate. In addition, they inspected 8,200 light capacity scales, 1,100 vehicle tank meters, 675 hi-volume meters at the terminals, refineries, ethanol plants, and airports. Also, 270 package checking inspections were performed at grocery stores and other food related facilities. The heavy duty field staff inspected 2,550 large capacity scales, including scales for vehicles, livestock, and grain and fertilizer. The Department received 457 complaints with 37 resulting in action taken such as warnings, fines, or rejections. The majority of the complaints pertain to petroleum pump accuracy and quality of the product. The metrology lab calibrated more than 1,400 artifacts, including five gallon measures, one gram weights, and 100,000 pound railroad test cars. Other accomplishments:
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Why
is this goal important? The Department of Commerce issues approximately 280,000 licenses that are held by individuals and companies doing business in Minnesota. Each year, more than 40,000 licenses are renewed and about 50,000 new applications are processed by the Department's licensing unit. Insurance companies file more than 5,000 rate and policy forms each year. In each of the above instances, the Department must review, approve, and process these filings or applications. Individuals and business must wait for the Department to complete its work before they can proceed. Minnesota consumers benefit from additional choices and competition in the marketplace and delays in processing these applications limits consumer options. What is DOC doing to achieve this goal?
The Department
continues to expand on-line licensing functions including systems to
The Department
encourages electronic filing through
the System for Electronic Rate and
The Division of
Insurance Fraud
The Financial
Exams Division seeks to |
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What is the department's progress on this goal to date? Online
Licensing Real Estate licensing is also occurring completely online for the first time in the summer of 2007.
Insurance Filings Using SERFF and
Number
of Days to Process Filings Effective January 1, 2008, this process will be completely electronic as the SERFF system will be mandated for all insurance filings.
Fraud
Prevention
Keeping Financial Institutions Sound Both of these entities perform a periodic peer review/quality control assessment to assure that our examination and oversight with respect to banks and insurers is sufficiently rigorous. The best measure of success in this area is the lack of financial institution failures in Minnesota during the last five years. |
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Why is
this goal important? Clean fuels have two main characteristics: in most cases their primary content is a substance other than petroleum and they emit lower levels of pollution than gasoline or diesel. Because alternative fuels are most commonly produced from corn and waste products, they have significant economic benefits for Minnesota, an agricultural state without petroleum reserves. Predicting the future of alternative fuels is difficult, but the economic and environmental problems associated with our present reliance on gasoline and diesel fuel bode strongly for changes in transportation energy use. Gasoline and diesel account for about 40 percent of our state’s total energy use with nearly one-third of what we spend for energy going to buy gasoline and diesel fuel. For the nation, two-thirds of all oil used in the United States goes for transportation; in Minnesota, the percentage is even higher - about three quarters. This reliance on gas and diesel results in dependence on foreign oil and accounts for more than 40 percent of our nation’s growing world trade deficit. In addition to these economic problems, gasoline and diesel also harm the environment. The air in many U.S. cities contains unacceptable amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and other pollutants harmful to human health. A large portion of these emissions comes from motor vehicles.
What is DOC doing to achieve
this goal? E85 is an alternative fuel, not to be confused with traditional Minnesota gasoline that has about 10 percent ethanol added as an oxygenate to reduce pollution. E85 is also different than “low-sulfur gasoline” that also reduces pollution from conventional gasoline (and also contains 10 percent ethanol). A distinct advantage of E85 as an alternative fuel is the ready availability of flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), which run on E85, gasoline, or any combination of the two. A current list of FFVs can be found on the Department of Commerce web site. Since 1995, the Minnesota Department of Commerce has worked with other state agencies, the federal government, private industry, public interest groups, and others to encourage the development, testing, and use of alternatives to petroleum fuels so that they can eventually enter the marketplace and compete with conventional transportation fuels. The Department offers grants to petroleum retailers to offset the cost of converting tanks to handle E85 or install new tanks specifically for E85. In September 2004, Governor Pawlenty signed an executive order requiring state agencies to reduce gasoline use in on-road vehicles 25% by 2010 and 50% by 2015, and to reduce petroleum-based diesel fuel use 10% by 2010 and 25% by 2015. At least 75% of most new onroad vehicles must be powered by biodiesel (blends of 20% or greater), ethanol (blends of 70% or greater), or hydrogen. Vehicles with high fuel economies - such as hybrid vehicles - also qualify under Minnesota’s executive order. Governor Pawlenty reinforced this commitment to renewable fuels by issuing another executive order in March of 2006 directing all state departments to immediately take all reasonable actions necessary to strengthen the infrastructure for increasing the availability and usage of E85 and biodiesel fuel throughout the state.
What is the department's progress
on this goal to date? The use of E85 in the state fleet has also increased since the Governor’s executive orders of 2004 and 2006. E85 use by state agencies increased 69%, growing from 98,000 gallons in 2005 to over 165,000 gallons in 2006.
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Goal: Encourage and promote the development of locally owned wind energy projects |
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Why is this goal important? As the wind industry matures, advances in technology are making this form of energy increasingly reliable and Minnesota utilities are improving their ability to integrate wind energy into the state’s supply grid. Community-Based Energy Development (C-BED) is a critical and unique component of Minnesota’s Renewable Energy Objective. C-BED projects are locally-owned wind energy projects located in Minnesota. As with the farmer-owned ethanol plants that have acted as economic anchors for Minnesota’s farm communities and rural economies, C-BED projects capture energy dollars to the local economy to be reinvested locally again and again. Local ownership and local benefits of energy production is central to the Pawlenty Administration’s energy policy. What is DOC doing to
achieve this goal? The Minnesota Department of Commerce is working with our state’s utilities to increase the number and quality of their community based wind projects. The Department is also working with wind developers to make sure their projects are cost effective, reliable and ultimately a good deal for Minnesota ratepayers. A key component to the C-BED statute is the availability of a "front-end loaded rate" for the energy from a community-based energy project. The front-end loaded rate means that the project can receive a higher rate from the utility in the early years of a wind energy contract, in exchange for a lower rate in the later years of a contract. This financing tool is intended to allow C-BED projects to overcome financing barriers, and cash flow a project during the first 10 years of production when the project owners must service the debt on the project. What is the
department's progress on this goal to date? Utility C-BED Rankings, June 2007
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Some images © 2003 www.clipart.com |
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