Phase I: Proposed Charter Amendments Released

Public Hearings on Proposal to Reform our elections & form of government

On March 31, 2022, the Charter Commission preliminarily agreed on a package of reforms to advance to voters. All 20 Charter Commission members supported the package, which would recommend three major changes:

• Allowing voters to rank candidates in order of their preference, using ranked choice voting
• Four new geographic districts with three members elected to represent each district, expanding the city council to a total of 12 members
• A city council that focuses on setting policy and a mayor elected citywide to run the city’s day-to-day operations, with the help of a professional city administrator

On May 3, 2022 the Commission released the drafted charter amendment language for community input and review. The Commission hosted a series of hybrid (in-person & virtual) public hearings for Portlanders to provide. The public comment period closed on May 30, 2022 at 5:00pm. The final amendment package will be voted on June 14th before official referral to the November ballot.

• Progress Report #5 (Amendments attached as an appendix)
• Proposed Charter Amendments alone
• Read our two-pagers on the hearings! 

View full size image of Image with information on the Charter Commission Public hearing. Hearing #1: Tuesday, May 10th from 6-9pm (Hybrid, online & in-person) Hearing #2: Thursday, May 12th from 6-9pm (Hybrid, online & in-person) Hearing #3: Tuesday, May 17th from 6-9pm (Hybrid, online & in-person) Hearing #4: Sunday, May 22nd from 12-3pm (in-person).

View full size image of Charter Commission: Ways to testify at public hearings

Hearings information

The Charter Commission hosted four in-person and virtual public hearings in May. Community members were given 3-minutes to share their thoughts.  At all of our hearings we had ASL, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Somali, and Russian interpretation available.

Below you can watch a recording of one of our hearings! 

• Hearing #1: May 10th recording
• Hearing #2: May 12th recording
• Hearing #3: May 17th recording
• Hearing #4: May 22nd recording

Missed our hearings?

If community members couldn't attend one of our hearings, they could submit comments via a variety of methods. The public comment period closed at 5:00pm on Monday, May 30,

• Online comment form
• Email to CharterReview@portlandoregon.gov
• Phone call to 311
• In writing to the: Office of Management and Finance, Charter Review, 1120 SW 5^th Avenue, Room 901,Portland, OR 97204