The judge ruled against the business alliance’s opposition to the charter amendment

Multnomah County Circuit Court has ruled on the Portland Business Alliance’s (PBA) objection to a ballot and administrative action scheduled for the November ballot. The PBA argued that the sweeping package of changes proposed by the Charter Review Commission violates the state constitution’s single-subject requirement.

In today’s ruling, Judge Stephen K. Bushong concluded that the move does not violate that standard.

This is the second charter amendment defeat for the PBA this summer. In July, the city auditor’s office denied the PBA’s request to conduct a constitutional review of the proposed amendments, responding that the auditor would only review “initiatives” — measures submitted to the ballot with signatures — and not “references” to ballots taken by governing bodies. . Despite that setback, the PBA unsuccessfully pushed the same argument to the circuit court.

Melanie Billings, co-chair of the Charter Review Commission, said in her ruling for BKPortland:

The Court agrees that the Portland Charter Commission has developed an indivisible and comprehensive plan to bring about meaningful change in the governance of our city. As Justice Bushong rightly said in his judgment, “All the provisions contained in this reform package are perfectly connected with the unity principle of reforming the structure and operation of the city administration.” That unifying principle is to create a governing system that is accountable, responsive and representative of all Portlanders. Now Portland voters will have the power to choose a better future for our city.

Today’s decision marks a strange interlude in which the City Council has watched the city auditor’s and attorney’s offices challenge the legality of recommendations made by a council-appointed charter review commission. The full package of those recommendations ranges from tepid to testy.

The Charter Review Commission (CRC) is a 20-volunteer body convened by the Portland City Council every ten years to review and recommend changes to the Portland City Charter, the city’s constitution. Each councilor is authorized to appoint four charter commissioners. Fifteen of the 20 CRC commissioners could refer the vast majority of recommended changes directly to voters. In a comfortable 17 to 3 vote last June, the current CRC voted the reform package onto the November ballot.

Mayor Wheeler addressed the relationship between the City Council and the Charter Review Commission at the June 29 council meeting when the CRC presented its recommendations to the council:

They voted with your supermajority to apply this directly to the residents of the City of Portland. Obviously, you are part of them, not us, and our comments here are for informational purposes only, as opposed to policy making.

Until today’s circuit court ruling, the fate of changes to Portland’s form of government and the way city officials are elected will be in the hands of November voters.

Between now and November, however, the charter reform measure will face organized opposition. Both Commissioner Mingus Maps and former council candidate Vadim Mozyrski have political action committees opposing the proposed full changes to the measure. As BikePortland previously reported, Mapps’s Ulysses PAC will host forums on options related to the current measure, and Mapps himself plans to propose an alternative to the spring 2023 ballot measure.

Mozirski teamed up with Chuck Duffy and Steven Moskowitz, a colleague of the late Mayor Bud Clark, to form the Common Sense Government Partnership, which boldly opposes the ballot measure.

But the measure has a growing number of supporters, including the Portland City Club, the League of Women Voters and the Urban League. And the recently formed Portland United for Change group is a coalition of organizations working to support the CRC measure.

Stay tuned as we continue to cover this story.

Lisa Caballero has lived in SW Portland for 20 years. She is on the transportation committee of her neighborhood association, Southwest Hills Residential League (SWHRL) and can be reached at lisacaballero853@gmail.com.