The Portland SD 1J Policy Committee voted to recommend that the school board consider a public lobbying registration policy that would require registrants to register with the district and have the district post a public list on its website, but would not create an ongoing expenditure reporting system.

Committee members said the draft before them is "a registration, not a reporting, policy," and characterized it as a lower-cost, basic-transparency approach compared with state and regional models. The committee recommended the measure go to the full board for first reading with no objection from members present.

The policy as discussed would require people or firms that engage with the district on certain matters to register and would make a list of registrants publicly available on the district website. Committee members distinguished that from a reporting regime in which registrants would be required to file periodic disclosures of lobbying activity or expenditures.

Committee discussion clarified several design points. Members and staff said the proposed policy is intended to mirror the public-facing list used by some regional agencies: a posted list of registrants rather than an active, recurring report of expenditures. One committee member noted that some other public agencies require ongoing reporting and that implementing a comparable reporting system could cost roughly $200,000 for IT infrastructure plus ongoing staff time. The draft before the committee intentionally did not include an ongoing reporting requirement to limit cost and compliance burdens on schools.

Members asked whether the policy would apply to construction contracts and other procurement. Legal and procurement staff said large construction and professional-services contracts generally follow established procurement and competitive-bid rules under Oregon statutes and the district's purchasing policies, and such procurements would typically be handled through the district's existing RFP and procurement processes rather than the registration policy. Committee members observed that very small-dollar procurements may not require competitive bidding and therefore may fall outside some procurement thresholds.

On specific wording, the committee agreed to simplify language describing public availability. After discussion they replaced phrasing like "establish a public registration reporting system on its website" with language committing the district to "establish a public registration and post the registrations on its website," to make clear the requirement is to maintain a posted list of registrants rather than an automated reporting platform.

Committee members said this version is intended as a starting point: a lower-cost measure to surface who is engaging with the district so the board can monitor whether the policy is meeting its goals and consider future strengthening if needed.

The committee recommended the draft for board first reading. There was no formal roll-call vote recorded on the motion; committee members verbally indicated support and no members voiced objection during the motion to recommend the item to the full board for first reading.

The policy will proceed to the full school board for consideration at first reading; implementation details (including whether to add reporting and the thresholds for registration) were left for future deliberation.