Judy Zelio is a program director with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Fiscal Affairs Program, where she has been since 1988. She specializes in state tax and budget issues, with a focus on performance budgeting, as well as state-local and state-tribal fiscal issues. She has written numerous articles, reports, and books on these topics. She is co-staff to the NCSL Budgets and Revenue Committee, which includes legislator and legislative staff members from all 50 states and the U.S. territories.
She has participated in NCSL studies of legislative policies and procedures in Arkansas, North Carolina, Montana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Arizona, and serves as NCSL’s liaison to the Minnesota Legislature. She has provided direct technical assistance on legislating for results and performance budgeting to legislatures in North Dakota, New Mexico, Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia, Oregon, Utah, and Washington in collaboration with the Urban Institute and state legislative staff. She provides information on an ongoing basis to states seeking advice in the implementation of legislative use of performance measures and results information in addition to other tax and budget topics. Zelio holds a bachelor’s degree (1968) from the University of Montana and a master’s degree (1980) from the University of Colorado and completed coursework in public finance at the University of Colorado Graduate School of Public Affairs.