State Representative Ross Hunter is serving his 4th term in the Washington State House of Representatives, representing the 48th district – parts of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, and all of the Points Communities. He is chairman of the House Finance committee, a member of the House Ways & Means committee and the Appropriations committee on Education Financing. He is a past chair of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, responsible for performance auditing of state agencies. Rep. Hunter currently serves on the state Information Services Board (ISB). The ISB provides oversight for all major information technology projects throughout state government.
Prior to serving in the legislature Rep. Hunter spent 17 years at a small eastside software company (Microsoft,) rising to become a general manager. He has a BS in computer science from Yale University.
He is vice-chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Standing Committee on Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce (CFI). This committee works to protect states’ interests in federal legislation regarding electronic commerce, banking, insurance, securities and other financial services issues, interstate commerce and taxation of electronic transactions, telecommunications and interstate business activity taxes.
He also serves on the Task Force on State and Local Taxation of Telecommunications and Electronic Commerce, which examines issues around state and local tax systems, including the streamlined sales tax system recently adopted in 22 states including Washington.
He is Washington’s voting member on the national Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Governing Board, setting joint sales tax policy for multiple states.
Representative Hunter’s main interests in the Legislature are education funding, tax system fairness and transportation infrastructure, most specifically the 520 bridge.
Ross is active in the community as a trustee of the Bellevue Schools Foundation and a board member of Hopelink, the Eastside’s largest non-profit human services agency. He serves on the steering committee for Bellevue Quality Schools and has a long history of working with children in Cub Scouts. His wife, Tricie, is a lifelong Washingtonian, and their children (Jack and Emily) are both in local public schools.
Awards:
- Master Builders of King and Snohomish County “Legislator of the 2009 Session.”
- Washington Association of Police and Sheriffs “2008 Legislator of the Year” for public safety.
- Washington Toxics Coalition “2007 Legislator of the Year” for his work on public health and toxic chemicals.
- Washington Towing and Recovery Association “2007 Legislator of the Year.”
- Washington Conservation Voters “2007 Green Good Deed”
