Trio of high-level panels boosts platform for Bothell lawmaker’s focus on accountability
Bothell lawmaker, mindful that the cantankerous economic recovery is creeping along at a snail’s pace, is reasserting the demand for efficiency and accountability in state government.
State Rep. Derek Stanford, who just recently accepted appointments to three high-level public posts, said he’s “looking forward to incorporating more public participation in working toward greater government efficiency and accountability.
“Now more than ever, we need to increase input from King and Snohomish county citizens as well as residents from around the state – the folks who pay the bills that keep our public programs and services running,” Stanford said.
“I want to hear citizen-suggestions for improving the way state agencies and departments go about their business.”
Stanford is stepping into new positions on three special panels, in addition to the three standing legislative committees on which he already serves. Appointed by Speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, Stanford’s three new posts are:
- The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC). This committee, according to its statutory directive: “conducts objective performance audits, program evaluations, special studies, and sunset reviews on behalf of the (L)egislature and the citizens of the state of Washington. The (c)committee makes recommendations to the (L)egislature and state agencies to improve the performance of state government and identify cost savings.”
Stanford is one of 16 legislators – eight representatives and eight senators split evenly between Republicans and Democrats – who serve two-year terms on JLARC.
“You can see very clearly that accountability and efficiency are paramount in the ‘Vision’ statement of JLARC,” he explained: “Our vision is to be a proactive committee whose work is an integral part of the legislative oversight of state government. JLARC recommendations have significant policy, accountability, and program and fiscal implications. Besides providing direction and oversight of JLARC reviews, JLARC members help to engage the public in order to make the government more responsive and efficient.”
- The Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB). According to its website, “CERB is Washington’s strategic economic development resource, focused on creating and retaining jobs in partnership with local government. CERB finances public infrastructure to encourage new development and expansion in targeted areas.”
“Right now it is critical that we work with community and business leaders toward building lasting, high-quality economic development,” Stanford said.
CERB has financed projects in all but two of Washington’s 39 counties, and the board has helped create more than 30,000 lasting jobs in the past three decades.
The board is made up of legislative members serving three-year terms – including a Democratic representative, a Republican representative, a Democratic senator, and a Republican senator. The governor also appoints CERB members from the business and economic-development communities, as well as local government, Indian tribes, and the general public.
- The Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee (LEAP). Says the committee’s website: LEAP exists “to be the Legislature’s independent source of information and technology for developing budgets, communicating budget decisions, and tracking revenue, expenditure, and staffing activity. LEAP also provides consulting to legislative committees and staffs, and provides analysis and reporting on special issues at legislative request.”
Like JLARC and CERB, LEAP is bipartisan in its legislative membership of four representatives and four senators.
“Here again, inherent in the LEAP mission, no less than in JLARC and CERB, government efficiency and accountability are so very important,” Stanford pointed out.
Stanford’s 1st Legislative District includes the communities and neighborhoods of Bothell, Brier, Maltby, and Mountlake Terrace.
In addition to the three new posts to which Stanford has been appointed, the Bothell legislator is the vice chair of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, and he serves on the House Business & Financial Services Committee, and the House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee.
Stanford lives in Bothell with his wife and their daughter.