Washington State Treasurer

The Washington State Treasurer is an elected official in the US state of Washington whose office is established by the Washington State Constitution. Duane Davidson is the current Washington State Treasurer, a Republican who began his term in January 2017.[1] He is charged with a variety of responsibilities related to the fiscal management of state government.[2]

State Treasurer of Washington
Seal of the Washington State Treasurer
Incumbent Duane Davidson since January 10, 2017
Style	The Honorable
Term length	four years, no limit
Formation	Constitution of Washington
Website	State Treasurer's Office

Duties and compensation

The Washington State Treasurer is responsible for managing the state's cash assets and local government investments which, as of 2008, totaled $11 billion. They are also responsible for servicing the state's $13 billion debt, through the issuance of state bonds. As one of 15 members of the Washington State Investment Board, the Treasurer helps oversee the investment of state pension and retirement funds.[3] The Treasurer is third (behind the Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State, respectively) in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Washington. [4]

The Washington State Treasurer's office is located in the Washington State Capitol.

Most of the Treasurer's specific responsibilities are set-forth in the Revised Code of Washington. Though the office was established by the Washington constitution, that document only provides that "the treasurer shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by law," a provision similar to the earlier enacted constitution of the neighboring state of Oregon. The constitution originally directed that the Treasurer would be paid a salary of $2,000, though constitutional limits on officeholder salaries have since been repealed by amendment and are now set by statute. [5] The Treasurer currently receives an annual salary of $125,000.[6]

Election and office

The Treasurer is elected every four years on a partisan ballot; any registered voter in the state of Washington is eligible to stand for election. The Washington State Constitution requires that, upon assuming office, the Treasurer establish residence in the state's capital city of Olympia. State law further requires he post a surety bond of $500,000, approved by both the Washington Secretary of State and the Chief Justice of the Washington Supreme Court.[7]

The Treasurer's office is located in the Washington State Capitol. [8]

List of Washington Treasurers

The State of Washington has had a total of 21 Treasurers, 2 of whom (Otto A. Case and Tom Martin) served non-consecutive terms.[9][10] Otto A. Case also served as Commissioner of Public Lands from 1945–1949 and 1953–1957.[10]

#	Name	Term	Party
1	Addison Alexander Lindsley	1889–1893	Republican
2	Orzo A. Bowen	1893–1897	Republican
3	Cyrus Wilber Young	1897–1901	Populist
4	Charles Warren Maynard	1901–1905	Republican
5	George Grant Mills	1905–1909	Republican
6	John G. Lewis	1909–1913	Republican
7	Edward Meath	1913–1917	Republican
8	Walter W. Sherman	1917–1921	Republican
9	Clifford L. Babcock	1921–1925	Republican
10	William George Potts	1925–1929	Republican
11	Charles W. Hinton	1929–1933	Republican
12	Otto A. Case	1933–1937; 1941–1945	Democratic
13	Phil Henry Gallagher	1937–1941	Democratic
14	Russell Harrison Fluent	1945–1949	Democratic
15	Tom Martin	1949–1953; 1957–1965	Democratic
16	Charles R. Maybury	1953–1957	Republican
17	Robert S. O'Brien	1965–1989	Democratic
18	Daniel K. Grimm	1989–1997	Democratic
19	Michael J. Murphy	1997–2009	Democratic
20	James McIntire	2009–2016	Democratic
21	Duane Davidson	2017–	Republican

See also

• State treasurer
• State constitutional officer (United States)

References

1. "Subscribe | The Seattle Times". www.seattletimes.com. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
2. "What We Do". tre.wa.gov. Office of the Washington State Treasurer. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
3. Gilmore, Susan (6 August 2008). "3 running to fill state treasurer's job". Seattle Times. Seattle. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
4. "Washington State Constitution". Washington State Legislature. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
5. Utter, Robert (2011). The Washington State Constitution (Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States). Oxford University Press. p. 99. ISBN 0199779279.
6. "Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Washington". ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
7. "RCW 43.08.020 ... Residence — Bond — Oath". app.leg.wa.gov. Washington State Legislature. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
8. Ferguson, Margaret (2006). The Executive Branch of State Government: People, Process, and Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 99. ISBN 1851097716.
9. "Washington State Treasurers: A Historical Gallery".
10. Washington State Yearbook: The Evergreen State Government Directory. Washington Roll Call. 2017. p. 260.