Council hears hours of testimony on ban targeting algorithmic rent price‑setting; oral record continued

Portland City Council heard extensive committee and public testimony on an ordinance that would prohibit sale, purchase or use of software and services that analyze or compile competitively sensitive information to recommend or set residential rental prices, fees, occupancy levels or lease terms.

The ordinance, sponsored by Councilor Carmen Murillo, would also make it unlawful for a landlord or agent to share competitively sensitive information for use in price‑setting tools, create a private right of action for aggrieved tenants and allow civil penalties and injunctive relief. Committee staff said the text was updated after an initial committee hearing to clarify definitions and enforcement mechanics; the version before council included an earlier committee amendment.

Council staff and the city attorney’s office walked through the ordinance’s definitions and enforcement mechanisms during the hearing. City attorneys said the text was drafted to align with language used in pending federal consent‑judgment materials in related litigation and to…