Oregon's Department of Corrections has hired a "gender-affirming care coordinator" on a salary of between $78,000 and $115,000, even as the state agency faces a projected $55 million budget deficit in 2026. The appointment continues gender-related initiatives backed by Governor Tina Kotek, a long-standing advocate for transgender rights who is seeking re-election, and comes despite her own instructions to state agencies to cut spending amid a wider budget shortfall.

The role oversees a programme managing the needs and safety of transgender, intersex and non-binary prisoners, and chairs a multidisciplinary team addressing individual care requirements. It follows a 2023 review of the state's only women-only prison, Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, which found transgender inmates faced delays accessing hormone treatment, while cisgender women also reported care shortcomings. Kotek's office subsequently formed an advisory panel, which recommended staff training rather than the specific coordinator post created; a similar role had also been proposed in a bill, SB 1120, that failed to pass. The hiring comes as Oregon grapples with a $373.7 million general fund shortfall linked to changes in federal tax law.