In addition, the agency is responsible for the testing, licensing and oversight of more than 36,000 individual companies and licenses each year. Any citizen may file a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner and request an investigation of that complaint. Seniors on Medicare or other retirement benefits have access to a special arm of the agency. The Senior Health Insurance Benefits Advisors are trained by the experts on the Commissioner's staff and are available in most Washington communities to meet with other seniors to discuss health-insurance concerns. The insurance industry also must pay for its own regulation.
Companies share that cost according to the amount of business they do in the state.
The Board of Natural Resources, chaired by the Commissioner of Public Lands, establishes policy for the department. The department, led by the Lands Commissioner, manages about 5 million acres of public lands. DNR manages about 2 million acres of forest lands and 1 million acres of agricultural and grazing lands as well as urban properties, generating income to support school construction, colleges, counties, state institutions and other beneficiaries. DNR manages nearly 2 million acres of state-owned aquatic lands tidelands, harbors and the beds of navigable waterways to benefit the people of Washington. Regulator DNR oversees dozens of resource-based businesses at the foundation of Washington's economy.