This measure is driven by the Portland Police Association and makes a permanent change to Portland’s charter that would raid 25% of Portland Clean Energy Fund revenue to spend on armed police officers.

It would establish a commission with representation from the Portland Police Association and Police Bureau, with no community members at the table. This commission would have the power to determine how these raided funds are used.

The measure also allows anyone to sue the city and collect attorneys’ fees if they prevail, encouraging frivolous lawsuits. 

The Portland Police Association has poured in almost $1.5 million into the measure just to qualify, with more large donations coming from wealthy real estate developers and other wealthy special interests.

The Police Association will be a direct beneficiary of this measure.

Leading environmental groups such as the Sierra Club of Oregon and 350PDX are strongly opposed to this measure, alongside racial justice organizations, including the Coalition of Communities of Color, as well as organizations like the ACLU of Oregon who hold our government accountable to the people.

Over 200 organizations and community leaders endorsed the 2018 effort to pass the Portland Clean Energy Fund.

The Portland Police Association—the police union that promotes massive overtime expenditures and defends police against allegations of wrongdoing—is leading the effort to pass the measure.

1PDX2026 was clearly tailor-written by the police union to give them more control over more city funds and set policy without any accountability. Other supporters include wealthy developers and business owners.

The money can only be spent on covering staffing costs for sworn and armed police officers. None of the money can be used to support any other public safety personnel like Portland Street Response, 911 call dispatchers, mental health crisis teams, or public safety support specialists who respond to community concerns.

There is not one word anywhere in the measure requiring community policing, working alongside mental health professionals, or hiring officers from diverse communities. The police union’s lawyer and consultants are fully authorized agents for the measure, and the Police Association immediately poured money into the measure. Yet the measure did not mention a single one of these changes—so we can’t count on the campaign’s empty promises.

A brand new commission composed of the head of the Portland Police Association, the Portland police chief, the mayor, city administrator, and one member of City Council would say how the money should be spent. The majority of this commission are not elected positions and cannot be held accountable by the public. No community members will be included in this commission. 

Extensive analysis based on the police bureau’s own data shows that since 2020, police staffing has had no correlation with call response times. Right now, the Police Bureau still has not filled the positions that are already funded, and have no plan on how they will be successful with the raided PCEF dollars.

The measure invites lawsuits against the City. If someone believes the City is not adequately staffing the police bureau, they can sue, and if a judge agrees, they will be awarded money to pay costly attorneys—at taxpayers’ expense. There is no way to calculate how much frivolous lawsuits could cost Portlanders.