Kotek vetoes bill changing Oregon public meetings law criticized by journalists, ethics officials

Gov. Tina Kotek on Thursday announced vetoed House Bill 4177 following outcry from professional journalist groups and Oregon news publishers, and concerns from state ethics officials, that the bill would fundamentally change public meetings law to lessen rather than strengthen transparency from public officials and bodies.

“I’ve heard from people on all sides of this issue – from advocates for transparency to public officials seeking clearer guidance to do their jobs effectively,” Kotek said in a statement. “While the goal of this bill is important, we must get the details right to ensure Oregonians can trust government is operating openly and ethically.”

It is her only veto of laws passed by the Oregon Legislature in the most recent session that adjourned on March 6.

The bill was backed by city and county governments and associations and school boards who wanted to provide clarity on a 2023 law that changed Oregon public meetings law, prohibiting public officials from deliberating and deciding measures via text, phone call and other chain conversations to circumvent state public meetings law.

House Bill 4177 exempts from the meetings law such “serial communications” if they are “made for the purpose of gathering information relating to a decision that will be deliberated upon or made by the governing body.”

Bill proponents said it was needed to clarify that public officials aren’t violating state law when they text an article related to an issue to one another, or share their opinion with a reporter ahead of a vote, who then shares that opinion with other members of the governing body in the course of the reporting.

But the Oregon chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Oregon News Publishers Association, The Oregonian and roughly a dozen small publishers, called on Kotek to veto the bill. They warned throughout the session that it fundamentally redefined what constitutes meetings and deliberations in a way that would allow public officials to do important work in private with little transparency.

During the session, leaders from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission — tasked with enforcing the public meetings law — shared testimony expressing many of the same concerns as the press advocates.

State lawmakers passed it anyway, vowing to come back in 2027 to make fixes that might be needed.

In a letter to Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read explaining her veto of the bill, Kotek said she understands the bill’s intent to provide clearer guidance on communications to officials, and called on the state Government Ethics Commission to work with her office, the Legislature and stakeholders — including media and the local government associations — to come up with solutions for the 2027 long session.

Note: Oregon Capital Chronicle Editor Julia Shumway is board treasurer of the Greater Oregon Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which requested Kotek veto the bill referenced in this article. She did not participate in the editing of this item.