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A Multnomah County judge on Thursday ruled that a police union-backed ballot initiative that aims to increase the number of police officers within the city is unconstitutional.
The ruling by Circuit Judge Katharine von Ter Stegge comes after the ACLU of Oregon filed a lawsuit March 5 challenging the ballot title, arguing that the initiative seeks to make changes that are administrative in nature, not legislative. Von Ter Stegge agreed with the petitioners in her ruling.
The ACLU also alleged in its original filing that the ballot title included more than one subject; a ballot title must contain only one subject. Because the judge ruled the ballot title was unconstitutional for seeking to make administrative changes, she wrote in her opinion that it was unnecessary to issue an opinion on the single-subject allegation.
The initiative, backed by the Portland Police Association, contained three components: increase the number of sworn police officers in Portland, “create and maintain 24-hour drug/alcohol detoxification drop-off and treatment centers” and “increase and maintain street response services, including social workers working with police and fire personnel to reduce violence and connect people with services.”
The ACLU of Oregon is also challenging in court a second ballot initiative backed by the Portland Police Association that seeks to fundamentally change both the authority and purpose of a soon-to-be-set-up police oversight board that Portlanders approved in 2020 amid the racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd.
Aaron Schmautz, president of the PPA, said the union is “dismayed that a single court has blocked the opportunity for all voters to have a say in their own city’s affairs.” He did not say whether the union was planning to resubmit a ballot title, but said that it was “considering options.”