The Washington State Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) works to make state government operations more effective, efficient, and accountable. The Committee is comprised of an equal number of House and Senate members, Democrats and Republicans. JLARC pursues its mission by conducting performance audits, program evaluations, sunset reviews, and other analyses. Assignments to conduct studies are made by the Legislature and the Committee itself. Based on these assignments, JLARC’s non-partisan staff auditors, under the direction of the Legislative Auditor, independently seek answers to audit questions and issue recommendations to improve performance.
Voters approved Initiative 900 (I-900) in the November 2005 general election which authorized the separately elected Washington State Auditor to conduct independent, comprehensive performance audits. The resulting law provides the Office of the Washington State Auditor (WA SAO) with the authority to audit any state agency, local government, or public education agency/institution. I-900 requires the Legislature to hold public hearings within 30 days of the WA SAO releasing audits of state agencies, to consider audit findings and receive public testimony.