Records show the city of Portland has filed a lawsuit against local journalists and news outlets to block public release of information about which companies will have to pay for voter-approved climate change programs. I woke you up.
According to the complaint, Monica Samayoa, an environmental reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting, filed a public records request for a list of all companies that paid into Portland's Clean Energy Fund in 2022 and how much each company owed that year. The claim was filed with the city in October. It was filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
After the city denied her request, Samayoa appealed the decision to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, which ruled in her favor earlier this month.
Portland authorities have sued Samayoa and his employer, alleging that the release of the records violates a series of local, state and federal laws aimed at protecting taxpayer confidentiality, according to court documents.
“The City of Portland takes the confidentiality of all taxpayer records very seriously, whether they are local residents, small businesses or large corporations,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said last week. He made this statement at a city council meeting with his fellow council members. The lawsuit was signed unanimously.
“This is why the City of Portland, like other taxing jurisdictions across the country, including Oregon, has a code section that explicitly prohibits the release of income taxpayer information.”
But the government's transparency watchdog denounced the lawsuit as an unusually aggressive attempt to hide records that the public has a legal right to obtain.
“We handle more complaints about the city of Portland than about any other organization in the state,” said Rachel Alexander of the Oregon chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Alexander said she and other members of the organization cannot recall a time in recent memory when the city sued a claimant after losing a record appeal.
“Portland has a long history of resisting transparency,” she says. “Unfortunately, this fits that pattern.”
Morgan Holm, OPB's chief content officer, declined to comment Tuesday.
Portland's Clean Energy Fund is funded by a 1% tax on sales transactions, including online purchases, with the city's largest retailers to help reduce carbon emissions, create jobs, and help the city's toughest businesses face their challenges. The aim is to provide funding for projects aimed at supporting vulnerable populations. Impact of climate change.
The program has generated a whopping $587 million in revenue since 2019. Financial numbers provided by the city show that the numbers are far higher than originally expected. The city's budget office announced in December that about 500 businesses fell behind on taxes last year, paying an average of $370,000.
However, Portland officials declined to provide the names of individual businesses subject to local taxes or the amount owed to Samayoa, stating that such taxpayer information is confidential and protected from public disclosure under city code. claimed that it had been done.
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt disagreed with the Jan. 8 ruling. According to a copy of the ruling, his office argued that Oregon's public records law supersedes the city's confidentiality rules and exempts information sought by reporters from state law as long as some records are released separately. It was decided that this was not applicable.
The district attorney ordered the city to provide the names of companies subject to Portland's clean energy tax and their respective outstanding amounts “in a manner that does not link individual company names and amounts,” the ruling states. be.
Along with Portland officials, some of the state's largest business lobbying groups also condemned the decision, arguing that releasing the information not only violates taxpayer privacy but could have other troubling consequences. and supports the city's move to reverse the decision.
“To our knowledge, if the DA's decision, as alleged, is upheld, it would be the only jurisdiction in the country that would allow this,” said Scott Brune, vice president of government affairs for Oregon Business and Industry. The area would be Portland.” Last week's city council meeting.
“This will set a precedent and path for public records requests for other currently confidential taxpayer information maintained by the City of Portland,” Brune continued. “This will be detrimental to local taxpayers of all sizes and positions.”
In a lawsuit filed Monday, city attorneys argue that handing over the records violates city ordinances that prohibit the disclosure of tax information and several Oregon public records laws that protect the disclosure of certain personal and financial information. The company maintains its position that it violates the exemption provisions.
Additionally, the city alleges the order violates multiple other local, state and federal ordinances and statutes regarding tax confidentiality, business practices and trade secrets, according to court documents.
— Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632
Email skavanaugh@oregonian.com
Follow us on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh
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