Since passage of the Growth Management Act (GMA) there have been no comprehensive, independent reviews assessing the economic impacts, environmental successes or progress toward the fourteen policy goals of GMA.

Before the Legislature adopts any additional amendments to the GMA, it should consider the following three questions:

1. What are the costs and benefits of the Growth Management Act?
2. How have amendments and Growth Management Hearing Board decisions changed the effectiveness and intent of the Growth Management Act?
3. Should further amendments to the Growth Management Act be approved without a comprehensive independent cost/benefit analysis?

To understand and answer these three basic questions, the Legislature should instruct an independent reviewer, such as the Washington State Auditor’s office, to complete a comprehensive audit of the GMA.

This brief analysis looks at work that has been done on the GMA since 1990, and shows that very little is known about the actual costs and benefits of a vast, statewide program that is nearly twenty years old.

Read the full Legislative Memo here