The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) is a statutorily created body consisting of eight members from the Senate and eight members from the House of Representatives, with no more than four members from each house from the same political party. JLARC conducts a variety of analyses including performance audits, program evaluations, and sunset reviews.
At the end of each legislative session in odd-numbered years, JLARC must develop and approve a performance audit work plan for the ensuing biennium. The work plan must include a description of each audit and its cost. When considering the work plan, JLARC may consult with the chairs and staff of legislative committees, the state auditor, and the director of financial management. Factors to be considered in preparing the work plans include:
The Sunset Act. Enacted in 1977, the Sunset Act provides for the review of state entities scheduled for termination to determine whether they should be continued, modified, consolidated, or terminated. The Sunset Act allows for an assessment of the efficacy and performance of the state entity. The entity must establish performance measures against which they are evaluated. Any entity or program may be statutorily scheduled for sunset review and termination, after which JLARC is tasked with conducting a program and fiscal review of the entity. Reports are prepared by JLARC during the year prior to scheduled termination. Affected entities are entitled to respond to the report. The Sunset Act is set to expire on June 30, 2025, but it may be extended by the Legislature.
The Sustainable Harvest Program. The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is responsible for managing state-owned lands under its jurisdiction. State law directs DNR to manage lands that are valuable for forest crops in such a manner that the forest can continue to be harvested on a continuing basis without major prolonged curtailment or cessation. To do so, DNR is required to calculate a sustainable harvest level, for example, an amount of timber scheduled for sale in a decade that will allow for sustained logging. The sustainable harvest level must be approved by the Board of Natural Resources. JLARC is required to oversee and conduct an independent review of DNR's methodologies and data prior to the determination of the sustainable harvest calculation for 2025-2034. JLARC is not required to do so if there is pending or ongoing litigation against DNR's sustainable harvest calculation.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee. For reviews conducted under the Sunset Act, the legislative auditor must develop and implement criteria to ensure JLARC staff resources and associated costs devoted to program reviews are proportionate to the size and complexity of the program budget. In addition to the current considerations required when developing its biennial work plan, JLARC must also consider whether a planned review that is part of a mandated, recurring study would provide the Legislature with new or additional information. The provision that establishes an exception for JLARC's review of the DNR sustainable harvest calculation for 2025-2034 in the event of pending or ongoing litigation is removed.
The Sunset Act. The expiration date of the Sunset Act is extended from June 30, 2025 to June 30, 2045.
The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: One of the things this bill does is gives some flexibility in doing that work surrounding the work plan. If there hasn't been enough time to gather data or there's an interruption to the collection of data, that can affect the ability to conduct a good audit. We want to make sure that when doing audits, they are done in the most professional manner possible and ensure the best information is getting to legislators so they can make informed decisions. The DNR allowable cut is critically important to ensure it's being done properly. As you know, revenues from our state forests are critically important. Making sure that we have the right process in place for determining the allowable cut is critically important. Finally, the Sunset Review Act actually has a sunset of its own and it's this year, so the bill moves the sunset out.
In 2022, there were some major revisions in the law relating to Washington Filmworks and the program was extended to 2030. I would say the purpose of the JLARC review is to give policy makers significant information about programs as you look at reviewing them. Unfortunately the date in the statute for the review was not changed, and falls in 2026. We believe the programs haven't been in place long enough to provide significant information. I'm asking you to consider an amendment that would add significant statutory changes as a reason for giving JLARC flexibility.