Over the past several months, the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) has been working alongside our partners at the League of Oregon Cities (LOC), the Special Districts Association of Oregon (SDAO), and the Oregon Community College Association (OCCA) on two parallel efforts aimed at fixing administrative and statutory concerns with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC). One track is working directly with OGEC commissioners to resolve administrative and engagement concerns; the other is a legislative workgroup, led by Rep. Nathan Sosa, that is drafting statutory fixes for the 2027 session.
Track One: Direct Engagement with the Commission
The direct dialogue with OGEC grew out of a joint letter from the four local government organizations in early July. That letter laid out a candid set of concerns: a widening gap between OGEC staff’s public statements and private actions; OGEC interpretations that had drifted far enough from legislative intent that lawmakers had to step in twice during the 2026 short session (HB 4161 and HB 4177) to restore clarity; and FAQ guidance that created confusion in what constitutes a prohibited serial communications meeting. The letter also flagged a data point worth noting: public meetings law cases at OGEC climbed 128% in 2024 and another 46% the year after, yet total fines stayed flat, suggesting the surge in claims wasn’t matched by a surge in actual violations. In light of these issues, the coalition asked for a special meeting with the full OGEC.
This meeting, held in August, proved productive. Executive directors and board members of each local government organization were present at the meeting. AOC was represented by Executive Director Gina Nikkel and Tillamook County Commissioner and President Erin Skaar, who articulated concerns that county commissioners have experienced related to information gathering. The single biggest breakthrough from this dialogue was pinpointing exactly where OGEC and local officials appear to have differing interpretations of the agency’s administrative rules: what counts as “information gathering” and “decision-making” under Oregon’s serial meetings rules. Several OGEC commissioners acknowledged that local officials may be reading the rules more restrictively than OGEC had intended — but that the gap is real and has forced local officials to proceed with an abundance of caution that chills ordinary, necessary contact with peers, partners, and constituents. OGEC and the coalition committed to collaborating on a near-term administrative rule fix and meeting quarterly to strengthen the relationship between OGEC and local officials.
Track Two: The Legislative Workgroup
Parallel to the dialogue with OGEC, a separate legislative workgroup was convened in response to the governor’s veto of HB 4177 earlier this year. This workgroup is a lookback of HB 4177 led by the bill’s primary proponent, Rep.Sosa, and includes representatives from all local government associations, legislative policy staff, the media, and OGEC staff. The legislative workgroup is revisiting the intent of HB 4177, as it relates to training requirements of public officials, the enforcement and remedies that exist for public meetings violations, and the statutory definitions of serial communications as a whole. It is the workgroup’s hope that by having all stakeholders, including members of the media, at the table helping draft this statutory language, consensus can be found to permanently resolve the serial-meetings and information-gathering questions that administrative rule changes alone can’t fully fix and provide relief related to OGEC training and enforcement of public meetings law.
These two tracks are designed to work together: the administrative-rule fixes discussed above for near-term relief and to rebuild the partnership between local governments and OGEC, and the legislative workgroup to establish a clear, statutory answer for public officials, the media, and the public going forward.
AOC will continue to update members as both efforts move forward this fall.
Contributed by: Justin Low | Legislative Affairs Manager