passed ordinance 2026-071

Amend Council Committee Code to allow for the creation of a Council Committee of the Whole (amend Code Section 3.02.050)

elections government
code amendment

Introduced by: Councilor Sameer Kanal Councilor Mitch Green Council President Jamie Dunphy
Status: Passed

Impact statement

Purpose & background

The City Council replaced the section of City Code related to Council Organization and Procedure (Code 3.02) in 2023 with Ordinance 191461 , which took effect on January 1, 2025. It was updated on January 15, 2025 with Ordinance 192021 . City Council had never previously had Council Committees, and the two ordinances created code governing the creation and structure of committees, including limiting committees to having no more than six of twelve Councilors. The Government Transition Advisory Committee (GTAC) issued a final report in March 2025. After researching 20 other cities, GTAC recommended the creation of a Committee of the Whole. This ordinance would amend City Code to allow a Committee of the Whole to have more than six members. It would not create a Committee of the Whole, but enable the creation of a Committee of the Whole by Council in the future.

Financial impacts

This document has no financial or budgetary impacts, as it allows one Council committee to have 4-12 members instead of 4-6 members. It is expected that a future resolution may alter the Council committee structure, and if that alteration has financial or budgetary impacts, those would be listed in the Impact Statement for that subsequent document.

Economic impacts

Not applicable.

Community impacts

No direct community involvement has been conducted for this resolution, but this resolution aims to enable implementation of a recommendation from the City's Government Transition Advisory Committee , which consisted of 15 community volunteers and which engaged with hundreds of Portlanders to create a recommendation including the creation of a Committee of the Whole. GTAC: Conducted over 75 public meetings. Researched 20 peer cities to identify promising practices of good government. Gave 141 community presentations. Collected 601 survey responses. Conducted five community listening sessions. Offered five policy discussions and 16 briefings for City staff. Over its almost two years of work, GTAC members contributed more than 4,000 hours to the City's transition. As this legislation simply enables future Committee of the Whole creation (but does not directly create a Committee of the Whole), future legislation would be necessary to do so. This future legislation may have additional community involvement.

▸ Full text (the legislation as adopted)

The City of Portland ordains. Section 1. The Council finds: City Council, under the Commission form of government, on September 27, 2023 adopted Ordinance 191461 , which replaced City Code Chapter 3.02 related to Council Organization and Procedure and which took effect January 1, 2025 alongside the change in government structure approved by voters in 2022. Ordinance 191461 created structures aligned with the expected practices of the new form of government, and included the creation of code related to Council Committees for the first time. The text included a limitation on committee membership by preventing more than six members of the City Council from serving on any Council Committee: "Membership. Committees must be composed of less than a quorum of Council. A committee generally consists of four to six Councilors, with at least one Councilor but no more than two from each district. A quorum is a majority of committee members." On January 15, 2025, City Council adopted Ordinance 192021, which amended portions of City Code 3.02, including Section 3.02.050 related to Council Committees. This ordinance took effect immediately. Ordinance 192021 removed district representation requirements from committees, but did not alter parameters related to the number of Councilors who can serve on any Council Committee: "C. Membership. 1. Committees must be composed of less than a quorum of Council. A committee generally consists of four to six Councilors. 2. A quorum is a majority of committee members." In March 2023, the City Council created the Government Transition Advisory Committee (GTAC), which met for two years before issuing a detailed final report in March 2025. GTAC conducted research on twenty cities (Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Fresno, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Fe, Seattle, Tacoma, and Washington DC) and observed that "common council committees in other cities include Committee of the Whole [...]" GTAC's recommendations to City Council included "Establish and compose council committees [...] Peer cities have five to eight standing council committees. And based on peer city research, Portland could consider committee topics such as: Committee of the Whole [...]" Current City Code does not allow for the creation of a Committee of the Whole, because of the prevention of more than six Councilors, on a twelve-member Council, serving on a Council Committee. An amendment to City Code exempting a Committee of the Whole from this limitation is therefore necessary. NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs: Add City Code Section 3.02.050 as shown in Exhibit A.

Tally

9 yea 1 nay 2 other