Decisions/2025-010
Resolution2025-010

Should Portland establish City Council committees?

On November 8, 2022, voters approved Portland Measure 26-228. The Measure significantly amended Portland’s City Charter. The Measure generally established a mayor-council form of government with a City Administrator, created four new geographic districts with three councilors represented in each district, and called for a new system of electing City officials using Ranked Choice Voting. On September 27, 2023, the City Council approved Ordinance 191461, “Amend Council Organization and Procedures Code to align with Measure 26-228 (replace Code Chapter 3.02), established operating rules for the new City Council which took effect on January 1, 2025, and on November 20, 2024, the City Commission approved Ordinance 191973, “Amend Code to align with the amended City Charter approved by voters in Portland Measure 26-228 (amend Code Titles 2, 4, 9, 22, 23 and 30, replace Code Titles 3 and 17, and repeal Code Title 8)”, affirming these changes to Title 3..Charter Section 2-111 provides that Council may establish committees and subcommittees. Code Section 3.02.050 Council Committees, states that Council may form and terminate committees by resolution. This resolution forms committees for the Council and outlines their subject matter, membership, and leadership.

Official impact statement
See the official legal title

Establish City Council committees

This is one chapter of a larger storyNew Council governance

How should a 12-member legislative Council organize itself and hold a separately elected Mayor and professional administration accountable?

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01 · Understand it

What this proposal would actually do.

Plain-language orientation first. Every substantive statement below links to its official basis.

What would change

On November 8, 2022, voters approved Portland Measure 26-228. The Measure significantly amended Portland’s City Charter. The Measure generally established a mayor-council form of government with a City Administrator, created four new geographic districts with three councilors represented in each district, and called for a new system of electing City officials using Ranked Choice Voting. On September 27, 2023, the City Council approved Ordinance 191461, “Amend Council Organization and Procedures Code to align with Measure 26-228 (replace Code Chapter 3.02), established operating rules for the new City Council which took effect on January 1, 2025, and on November 20, 2024, the City Commission approved Ordinance 191973, “Amend Code to align with the amended City Charter approved by voters in Portland Measure 26-228 (amend Code Titles 2, 4, 9, 22, 23 and 30, replace Code Titles 3 and 17, and repeal Code Title 8)”, affirming these changes to Title 3..Charter Section 2-111 provides that Council may establish committees and subcommittees. Code Section 3.02.050 Council Committees, states that Council may form and terminate committees by resolution. This resolution forms committees for the Council and outlines their subject matter, membership, and leadership.

Official proposal and impact statement
What would stay the same

The reviewed sources do not clearly identify every existing policy, service, contract, or obligation that would remain unchanged.

Official matter record
What happens next

Adopted

Latest official agenda appearance
02 · Evaluate it

What the record establishes and what it does not.

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Open questions
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  • What implementation evidence will show whether the intended result occurred?
Can residents still participate?

Official testimony on this decision has closed. Residents can still contact their district Councilors about implementation and follow-up.

Official Council agenda
03 · Verify it

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Official documents1 sources
Final legal actionResolution 37696

The operative official record after Council action.

Open at Portland.gov
Read the full official text

WHEREAS, Council finds that committees are a critical method to develop legislation and receive public input on policy proposals; andWHEREAS, the intent of Council is to establish a committee system that allows Councilors to address key questions about our City’s future, advances the City’s core values, addresses our community’s priorities, provides oversight to City operations, and promotes meaningful public engagement that includes all Portlanders; andWHEREAS, Sec. 2-111 of the Charter of the City of Portland (Charter) provides that Council shall determine its own rules of procedure and may establish committees and subcommittees; andWHEREAS, Portland City Code (PCC) 3.02.050.A provides that Council, by resolution, may form or terminate committees to assist Council’s legislative functions; andWHEREAS, PCC 3.02.050.A provides that by resolution, the Council establishes the subject matter and duties, and affirms the membership and leadership of each committee; andWHEREAS, PCC 3.02.050.B provides that committees have the duties delegated to them by Council resolution, and that committees are advisory in nature and make recommendations to Council on matters referred to them; and WHEREAS, PCC 3.02.050.C provides that committees must be composed of less than a quorum of Council and should generally consist of between four to six Councilors.NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the committees of the Portland City Council, including their duties, subject matter, membership, and leadership, are established as provided in the attached Exhibit A.

Meetings, motions, amendments, and votes1 meetings · 1 votes
Data quality, timeline, and provenanceRules v2
Why technical findings are hidden above

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Technical information-completeness check · Ready With Caveats

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Decision definition

The official title and operative text identify the requested action.

Complete
Official legal text

Official text was found. This check does not certify that every referenced exhibit is complete.

Complete
Financial impact

The official impact statement includes financial information.

Complete
Funding source

The impact statement identifies funding information without an explicit unresolved-source qualifier.

Complete
Supporting documents

No linked attachments were found on the official page.

Unknown
Referenced exhibit integrity

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Unknown
Counterparty acceptance

The reviewed action is not expressly identified as a non-binding agreement.

Not Applicable
Implementation

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Unknown
Document stability

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Unknown
Source record
First discovered
Aug 13, 2026, 1:18 PM PDT
Last checked
Sep 14, 2026, 2:26 AM PDT
Evidence hash
6faf80adf0eaedbb
Guide status
Deterministic baseline
Append-only timeline
  1. SOURCE UPDATED

    Adopted

  2. DOCUMENT PUBLISHED

    Observed in the official source.

  3. Council Action

    Adopted