With the 2025 Legislature about to begin, the Legislative Policy and Research Office has new staff members. Linda Gutierrez, staff Interpreter for Spanish language, replaces Hector De la Cruz, who is now language access supervisor. LPRO Fellow Christopher Bechtel is with the office through December.

Serving through June are:

— Legislative analysts Kris Kolta and Abby Shearer, Judiciary; Taylor Bickel, Human Services; Alexa Piscanio, Natural Resources; and Mary MacKie, Economic Development.

— Committee assistants William Best, Jennifer Canty, AJ Iboa, Allison Darne, Diana Sanchez Ramirez, Elamny Hernandez-Guarema, Jacob Kashlak, Joe Alvarado, Kason Bonds, Loni Nguyen and Shane Gaffikin.

— Graduate student interns Tamara Antunes and Aleysa Garcia Rivas.

The Legislative Fiscal Office brought on Chelsey Herrmann and Roxanne Adams as legislative fiscal analysts. Herrmann will be the analyst for public safety and judicial branch program-area fiscal impacts. Adams will be the analyst for administration, legislative branch and transportation program-area fiscal impacts. Steve Robbins rejoined LFO as a principal legislative analyst covering public safety agencies, including the departments of Corrections, Emergency Management and Justice, among others.

Legislative Counsel has two new staff attorneys. Helen Lee, a 2020 graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School, joined the office after serving as a law clerk with the Oregon Supreme Court. Geoffrey Briggs, a 2020 graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law, was a law clerk at the Oregon Court of Appeals and an honors attorney with the Oregon Department of Justice. In addition, longtime Chief Deputy Legislative Counsel Lorey Freeman retired in June, and that position now has been filled by Marisa James. A Lewis & Clark Law School graduate, James joined Legislative Counsel in late 2008 and has been the lead attorney responsible for preparing legislation on civil litigation, PERS, administrative law, state agencies and other topics.

Dr. Elizabeth Steiner was sworn in Monday as Oregon’s first woman treasurer, the first Jewish treasurer since the 1870s and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to lead the agency. Her leadership team includes:

— Deputy treasurer: George Naughton, most recently the Treasury’s chief program officer, was the state’s longtime chief financial officer.

— Chief program officer: Barry Ford was president and CEO of Council for a Strong America.

— Chief of staff: Sybil Ackerman-Munson managed Steiner’s election campaign, ran her own consulting firm and operated Do Your Good.

Former State Treasurer Tobias Read, who was sworn in Monday as secretary of state, appointed Steve Bergmann as director of the Audits Division. Bergmann was Business Services director for the Secretary of State’s Office. He previously led audits at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Revenue after working for accounting firms that served banking, nonprofit and government clients.

Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who took office last week, appointed Alicia Temple as the Department of Justice’s legislative director. A senior policy adviser for Rayfield when he was House speaker, she also worked for Multnomah County, Oregon Law Center, Coalition of Community Health Clinics and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. Newly appointed policy adviser Leslie Wu was a Multnomah County deputy district attorney and in 2021 was legal counsel for the Legislature’s Judiciary committees.

A celebration of life for the late Senate President Peter Courtney will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, in the Oregon Capitol. It will be in the Senate chamber, with reserved seating only, and simulcast in the House chamber with open seating. A reception will follow at 4 p.m. in the Capitol Room of the Salem Withnell Family YMCA. Courtney, 81, died July 16, 2024.

Maia Powloski is the new chief of staff for Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis. She worked for LPRO with the Joint Task Force on Statewide Educator Salary Schedules and previously served the Senate Judiciary and Education committees. She also worked in the Child Advocacy Division at the Department of Justice. Gelser Blouin’s new legislative assistant, Hibah Hammad, was a legal assistant at Legal Aid Services of Oregon.

Cole Daneman was hired as a legislative assistant for Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego.

Steph Routh is joining incoming Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, in the part-time role of community engagement manager.