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Citizen Commission for Performance Measurement of Tax Preferences

The Legislature established the Commission in 2006 (RCW 43.136). It sets the schedule for tax preference reviews, hears public testimony, and comments on the reviews.

Upcoming meetings

View 2025 meeting schedule

Testifying

How to testify

The Commission dedicates the September meeting to hearing public testimony on the completed tax reviews.

Register to testify here. Testimony registration will open one week prior to the meeting date.

Written public testimony can be submitted to JLARC@leg.wa.gov

Questions for testifying parties to address on both Full JLARC Reviews and Expedited Reviews

Please answer these questions

Commissioners request that testifying parties include responses to the following four questions when presenting written or oral testimony in support of, or in opposition to, a tax preference.

Those testifying are asked to provide answers to the following questions, as well as any relevant evidence:

  1. Does the tax preference achieve its purpose, as noted in the 2024 tax preferences reports?
  2. Does this preference provide benefits in addition to those stated in its intended or inferred purpose?
  3. Do the taxes associated with any increased economic activity stimulated by this tax preference exceed the preference’s loss of tax revenue?
  4. Does this preference have negative consequences? For example, were other industries, workers, or the environment harmed by activities stimulated by this tax preference?
  5. Please provide evidence to support your responses to the first four questions.

Approved at Commission Meeting May 1, 2024

Citizen Commission Membership

The Commission has five voting members. They serve four-year terms and may be reappointed to serve more than one term.

  • Two are appointed by the House
  • Two are appointed by the Senate
  • One is appointed by the Governor.

It also has two non-voting members: the Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee and the State Auditor.

Current members

Voting members

Andi Nofziger-Meadows | Chair

President, Edmonds Education Association

Appointed by House Democratic Caucus | Term ends June 30, 2025

Andi Nofziger-Meadows is the President of the Edmonds Education Association and the WEA-Cascade UniServ Council. Before being elected President, she was a math and English teacher at Mountlake Terrace High School and Sedro-Woolley High School. She received both her BA (1992) and her Masters (1993) from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. She serves on the Washington Education Association Board of Directors, is a trustee for the Foundation for Edmonds School District, is a member of the WEA Benefits Services Advisory Committee, and is the Legislative Chair of the PTA at her son's school.

Andi and her husband Jim enjoy traveling the world with their son Matthew. She is also an avid baseball fan and remains hopeful that one day she will see her beloved Mariners in the World Series.

Dr. Grant D. Forsyth | Vice Chair

Chief Economist, Avista Corp.

Appointed by Senate Republican Caucus | Term ends June 30, 2026

Dr. Forsyth is the Chief Economist of Avista Corp. Before coming to Avista in 2012, he was Professor of Economics at Eastern Washington University from 1999 to 2012. Before EWU, from 1996 to 1999, he worked in the Czech Republic as an academic and private sector economist. He received his BA in Economics from Central Washington University (1988), his MBA in Finance from the University of Oregon (1990), and his PhD in Economics from Washington State University (1996). He also serves on the Washington Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors and the Spokane Mayor’s Economic Advisory Roundtable.

Ronald L. Bueing

Appointed by House Republican Caucus | Term ends June 30, 2025

Ron Bueing is a mostly retired tax lawyer and CPA who practiced for over for 30 years specializing in state and local taxes. Mr. Bueing assisted clients in managing their multistate taxes through planning, structuring and negotiation of voluntary disclosure agreements, and defending taxpayers in tax audits and litigation. Mr. Bueing is recognized for his experience in successfully resolving Washington State & City excise tax disputes in connection with a variety of such taxes including business & occupation tax, sales and use tax, real estate excise tax and utility tax.

Mr. Bueing has a JD and a BA from the University of Washington. Mr. Bueing is a past chair of the Tax & Fiscal Policy Council of the Association of Washington Business and previously served as a member of the Committee for the Study of Electronically Delivered Products.

Dr. Sharon Kioko

Associate Professor of Public Administration, Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington

Appointed by the Governor | Term ends June 30, 2028

Sharon Kioko, a nationally recognized public financial management scholar, is Associate Professor at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.

Dr. Kioko’s research has largely focused on the financial condition of state and local governments, the relevance and significance of financial information in the capital markets, the impact voter initiatives including tax and expenditure limits have on state and their localities. Her work appears in Public Budgeting and Finance, Public Finance Review, National Tax Journal, Journal of Public Administration Theory and Research, and Municipal Finance Journal. Dr. Kioko is also a two-time recipient of the Jesse Burkhead Award for Best Article published in Public Budgeting and Finance (2012, 2017). Her book Financial Strategy for Public Managers (with Justin Marlowe) is the first open-access, graduate-level textbook for public financial management.

Before joining the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, Dr. Kioko was an Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs at the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She has a B.A. in economics from University of Nairobi (Kenya), a Master of Public Administration and Ph.D. (Public Affairs) from Indiana University – Bloomington and is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA-Kenya).

James Orr

Appointed by the Senate Democratic Caucus | Term ends June 30, 2026

Jim is a retired teacher. After receiving his BA in Music from Washington State University in 1975, he taught in the Richland (WA) School District, retiring in 2012. During that time, he served as President of the Richland Education Association for 3 years, and earned a Master’s in Education Administration from WSU in 1996.

Jim also worked for 38 years as a collegiate, scholastic, and Junior Olympic volleyball referee and rules clinician.

He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Wilburforce Foundation, a conservation foundation that works throughout western North America and is headquartered in Seattle. Jim and his wife Rose enjoy gardening and traveling.

Non-voting members

Senator Jesse Salomon | JLARC Chair

Appointed by RCW 43.136.035(b) | JLARC Chair (standing non-voting member)

Sen. Jesse Salomon represents Washington's 32nd Legislative District. Elected to the State Senate in 2018, he is currently Chair of the Local Government Committee. He has served on Senate committees including Law & Justice, Housing & Local Government, and Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks (Vice Chair). He is a former Shoreline City Council member and works part-time as a public defender.

Pat McCarthy | State Auditor

Appointed by RCW 43.136.035(a) | State Auditor (standing non-voting member)

Pat McCarthy is the Washington State Auditor. She began her term in January 2017 and is proud to lead the professional auditors who provide a window into taxpayer-funded operations. For the past eight years, she managed the daily operations of Pierce County, the second largest county in Washington. McCarthy has been a public servant for three decades, starting with 12 years on the Tacoma school board. She was elected twice as Pierce County Auditor and served as chair of Sound Transit, as well as an administrator and advisor for the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program at the University of Washington Tacoma. She and her husband, John, live in Tacoma. They have four adult children and eleven grandchildren, all of whom make western Washington their home.

Appointments

If you are interested in being appointed to serve on the Commission, please contact the following:

The Commission welcomes public attendance and values participation in its meetings. Except when convened in Executive Session, all meetings of the Commission are open to the public. The Commission also provides opportunity for public comment at each meeting. See the testifying section below for more information.

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