A CONVERSATION WITH CALIFORNIA STATE TREASURER FIONA MA by CCA Director of Communications Katie Roberti
In this Q&A, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma shares about her role as treasurer for the 5th largest economy in the world, how the State Treasurer’s office can help ranchers, how her curiosity has led to learning about California agriculture and why she makes it a point to be at CCA’s events, connect with California’s ranching community and more. The answers in this Q&A have been edited for brevity and clarification. To hear the entire interview specifically intended for California beef producers and the ranching community, listen to season 3, episode 2 of Sorting Pen: The California Cattleman Podcast.
Q Tell us a little about your background and how you got to where you are today serving as California State Treasurer.
I’ve learned a lot about the industry and how the ranchers are really amazing stewards of the land. Many of them are generational farmers and landowners that care about their property. Of course, this drought really has impacted them, which I especially saw up in Inyo and Modoc counties. Now as the State Treasurer, I am the banker. All the revenues come into my office. Last year that was $3.2 trillion. I also invest the state’s idle funds and issue all the bonds for the state of California, the University of California, California State University and community colleges. I also chair thirteen boards, commissions and authorities that fund and finance affordable housing, charter schools, hospitals, children’s hospitals and grants, public transportation, green energy, etc.
A Fiona Ma (FM): Let’s start with where I grew up. Q What does day to day as State Treasurer look I was born in New York City, grew up on Long Island like for you? and went to school in Rochester. I didn’t even think about agriculture at all. A Every day is different. It starts with how much Then I moved to San Francisco back in 1988, cash we get in. Then my job is chairing the different and again, San Francisco is not a big agricultural producing city and county, so I didn’t think about it, except that you get your food from Safeway. When I got to the Legislature in 2006, one of my goals was to sit on as many committees as I could—all the meat and potatoes happens at the committee level, not on the floor. After two years in the Legislature, in 2009 I asked to sit on the agriculture committee and that’s really where my journey started. Since then, I’ve done tours on the Reimer Ranch in Glenn County and Rankin Ranch in Kern County. Additionally, I recently went to Inyo with Mark Lacey and Tom Talbot and up to Billy Flournoy’s up in Modoc. Billy has been trying to get me up to his ranch since my first CCA Steak and Egg breakfast back in 2009. 34 California Cattleman April 2023
boards that I have. Every week there are different issues that we are addressing. On Thursday and Friday, I like to get out into the communities and that’s when I go on tours, visit businesses and more. This is a great job as long as you don’t like doing the same thing every day.
Q
After serving in the Assembly from 2006 to 2012, you were elected as California State Treasurer in 2018. What made you want to be California State Treasurer?
A I never thought that was going to be my path. 20 years ago, I got elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and I really wanted to be in