Sara Gelser Blouin

Sara Gelser Blouin was born on December 20, 1973, and is a Democratic member of the Oregon State Legislature. She represents District 8, which encompasses Corvallis, Albany, Tangent, Adair Village, South Salem, and unincorporated portions of Linn, Benton, and Marion Counties.

Sara entered public service through the disability rights community and has become a national leader advocating for vulnerable populations, including children in state care, people with disabilities, individuals with mental illness, those living in poverty, and older adults. She is particularly recognized for her work reforming abusive residential programs for youth known as the Troubled/Exploited Teen Industry.

She currently lives in Corvallis with her husband, Dr. Michael Blouin, and has five children.

Education

Sara earned her BA in History and Education from Earlham College and a MAIS degree in History and Women and Gender Studies from Oregon State University.

Political Experience

Sara served on the Corvallis School Board from 2001 to 2006 before entering the state legislature.

She was sworn into the Oregon House of Representatives in 2005, representing District 16 until 2015. During her House service, she chaired the Education Committee for six years and served as Assistant Caucus Leader from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Democratic Whip for the 2011 session.

She was elected to the Oregon State Senate in 2014 and has served since 2015. In the Senate, she currently chairs the Senate Human Services Committee and serves on the Judiciary, Education, Mental Health, and Joint Transportation Committees.

Notable Legislative Achievements

Sara's major legislative accomplishments include:

• Spearheading *Karly's Law *, which improved child abuse investigations statewide
• Leading efforts to end Oregon's rape kit backlog and making Oregon one of the first states nationally to achieve full rape kit reform recognition
• Eliminating zero tolerance discipline policies in public schools
• Banning seclusion cells in public schools
• Establishing clear, enforceable policies limiting physical restraint and seclusion in public schools and residential programs
• Dismantling discrimination in health care delivery
• Improving staffing and services in memory care facilities
• Establishing a Domestic Worker's Bill of Rights
• Eliminating discriminatory use of abbreviated school days in Oregon schools
• Establishing statewide standards for modified and extended diplomas
• Currently leading Oregon's workgroup to implement the national Family First Prevention Services Act

National Recognition and Appointments

In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Sara to the National Council on Disability, with her nomination confirmed by a unanimous US Senate vote. She has received numerous fellowships and honors, including being named a Henry Toll Fellow, Marshall Memorial Fellow, and Milbank Memorial Fellow.

She was featured as one of Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" Silence Breakers in 2017 and has received the Oregon Courage Award , the Voice for Justice Award from the National Crime Victim Law Institute , and the Transforming Policy Award from the Oregon Center for Women's Leadership .

In 2021, Sara was named the winner of the Carl Levin Award for Effective Oversight by the Levin Center for her extraordinary legislative work investigating child foster care contracts and Oregon's child welfare system.