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From birds to beverages and flowers to fossils, these icons of history, nature and pride represent Oregon.
Elizabeth Steiner made history Monday as she was sworn in by Gov, Tina Kotek as Oregon’s first female and openly LGBTQ+ Treasurer.
Steiner said she was “unbelievably happy” and would work to take a “both/and” approach to issues.
“As a family physician, I am all too aware that financial insecurity is the leading cause of poor health. Too many Oregonians are living with what appears to be an unbreakable ceiling between them and financial security,” she said.
Steiner helped write Oregon’s budget as co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee from 2018 to 2024. She was first appointed to the state senate in 2012 and represented northwest Portland and Beaverton until resigning after being elected treasurer.
Prior to becoming Treasurer, Steiner was a doctor for more than 30 years and an associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University beginning in 1999.
She campaigned on making programs like Oregon Saves and the College Saving Plan more accessible.
Steiner pledged she would “double the percentage of children in Oregon with a college savings plan, ensure that the vast majority of Oregonians are saving for retirement, significantly expand the reach of the ABLE program, and establish child savings accounts so that every child born in Oregon has savings available to them when they turn 18.”
Steiner’s election marks the last of Oregon’s statewide offices to be filled by a woman, or “the longest-lasting glass ceiling in Oregon’s politics,” as presenter Kerry Tymchuk said.
Tymchuk is the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, where the swearing-in was held.
Outgoing attorney general Ellen Rosenblum was the first female in the position when she took office in 2012. The first female secretary of state was Norma Paulus in 1977. Barbara Roberts became the state’s first female governor in 1991. Roberts, Rosenblum, Kotek and former Gov. Kate Brown all attended Steiner’s swearing in.
Kotek reflected on her 20-year history with Steiner and said she “couldn’t be more proud of [her] friend.”
Steiner ran against Republican Brian Boquist, who served alongside her in the Senate, and Working Families Party candidate Mary King.
As treasurer, Steiner is Oregon’s chief financial officer and oversees the treasury and public funds. She will join Secretary of State Tobias Read and Kotek on the State Land Board, overseeing the Department of State Lands and the Common School Fund.
In his last week as Treasurer, Read released the first annual progress report for a plan that would reduce the Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund (OPERF) portfolio to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Steiner campaigned on continuing those efforts and said she would see if it could be accomplished before the 2050 goal.
The first annual report evaluated some companies on their transition readiness and created an advisory group of retirees and unions representing public employees.
Steiner said she wanted the effort to be transparent and that while the environmental impact of “moving away from high carbon” and “getting a portfolio net zero” is a benefit of the plan, it is not the main focus.
“We’re doing that fundamentally to protect the pension fund,” Steiner said. “It is the fiduciarily responsible thing to do.”
Anastasia Mason covers state government for the Statesman Journal. Reach her at acmason@statesmanjournal.com or 971-208-5615.
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