Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward has lived in Oregon since 1991. In December of 2011, she was first appointed to the Oregon Senate. With strong support from her District 17 constituents, she returned to the Senate in 2012. Senator Steiner Hayward's primary areas of combined concern and expertise include creating an affordable healthcare system, improving education statewide, improving the economy for small and local businesses, and building a balanced state budget.

In the Oregon State Legislature, Senator Steiner Hayward serves on the following committees:

* Joint Committee On Ways and Means, Co-Chair

* Joint Committee On Ways and Means Sub Committee on Capital Construction

* Joint Committee on Legislative Audits

When she is not serving in the Legislature, she works as physician practicing Family Medicine at OHSU. Her 25 years of experience as a health care provider have given her a breadth of understanding of state systems that can be transferred to other large systems and agencies in our state government.

She and husband Michael live in unincorporated Multnomah County. Their youngest daughter currently attends Macalester College, their middle daughter recently graduated from Harvard University and now lives in Chicago, and their oldest daughter and her partner make their home in northeast Portland.