Alaska passed its first civil rights law in 1945, and the commission has been functioning for many years as well...the budget is not great....back in the 90s it was about 1M/year.  "Millions per year" is an exaggeration.

Decisions by the US and Alaska Supreme courts have established some fairly rigorous methods to determine/analyze  if illegal discrimination has occurred. Yes, on the surface it may be "he said/she said" but in the cases where evidence was found there is more to it....

A person wishing to file a complaint may proceed through the commission...or they can file in court. the problem with court is that it is expensive for all parties...and lawyers are not inclined to take these cases on a contingency as often the economic return of even a good case is slight. State law does not allow compensatory or punitive damages...only hard damages like wage losses, and the wage loss on a lower paying job isn't much.