Senator Elizabeth Schneider is serving her fourth term in the Maine State Senate representing District 30 which includes much of Penobscot County including Alton, Argyle, Bradford, Edinburg, Enfield, Greenbush, Howland, Hudson, Kingman, LaGrange, Lee, Lincoln, Mattawamkeag, Maxfield, Old Town, Orono, Passadumkeag, Penobscot Indian Island, Springfield, Twombly, Veazie, Webster, Winn. Senator Schneider is serving on the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee.
In the 122nd and 123rd Legislatures, Senator Schneider served as the Senate Chair of the State and Local Government Committee. In the 122nd Legislature, Senator Schneider also served on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. She has served as Chair of the Community Preservation Advisory Committee. In the 123rd Legislature Senator Schneider was a member of the Business Research and Economic Development Committee and in the 124th Served as the Senate Chair of the committee. As a result of her legislative leadership, Senator Schneider was asked to serve on the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drugs (NLA-Rx) in 2004, and continues to serve on that board today. NLA-Rx is a national nonpartisan nonprofit organization founded and directed by state legislators across the country to assist lawmakers working to make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible to people.
Elizabeth M. Schneider was born in Lexington, Virginia, in 1962. The following year she moved with her two older sisters, Anna and Ginny, her mother, Carolyn Montgomery, and her father William Schneider to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her father became a chaplain at Harvard University. Elizabeth was exposed to civic and political duty at an early age, seeing her parents work in the civil rights and equal rights movements.
During the turbulent times of the 60′s and 70′s, Elizabeth escaped with her family to the peace of coastal Maine, away from the hustle and bustle of academic life, noise, city pollution and traffic. Later, Elizabeth moved to New York City where she graduated from a public, all girls high school located in lower Manhattan. In 1982 Elizabeth and her former husband met at the University of Colorado. They moved to Orono in 1987.
Prior to being elected to the Maine Senate, Elizabeth gained a deep appreciation and understanding of the struggles of businesses in Maine through her work in the ever changing travel industry and in business development for a local multimedia company.
From her first experience as a citizen taking part in a town meetings, it was clear to Elizabeth that one citizen can have a significant impact on the decisions of local government. The threat of a local property tax increase in 1993 prompted Elizabeth to become involved in Orono local government. In 1996 Elizabeth was first elected to the Orono Town Council. She was reelected the following year.
Prior to her election to the Maine Senate, Elizabeth gave much of her time to help nonprofit organizations and she served on numerous committees, such as the Orono Economic Development Corporation, the Penobscot Downeast Cable Consortium, The Orono Village Association and The Peace and Justice Center. Her jobs with small business and her in efforts with nonprofits helped prepare her for the challenges in the Maine Senate.
Senator Schneider currently lives in Orono.
