Back in 2008, I wrote this post about how The Port of Portland (the "The" is part of its official name) was bigger than it thought. When the legislature first established the Port nearly 60 years ago to absorb the Portland Dock Commission and run as a state agency, the legislature defined "Portland metropolitan area" in ORS 778.005 to be "the Oregon portion of a standard metropolitan statistical area as designated and published by the United States Bureau of the Budget with an Oregon population of more than 750,000. The area that qualified consisted of Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties. ORS 778.010 then defined the Port district to be the Portland metropolitan area, resulting in the Port district being those three counties.
A funny thing happened in the 1980s. The federal government did away with the term "standard metropolitan statistical area," replacing it with "metropolitan statistical area." The federal government also redefined the Portland MSA to include Columbia and Yamhill Counties.
The Port took no notice that the federal government had given it two additional counties, and in 2008 continued to believe that its district included only three counties. It believes that even today, saying on its website that "at least two commissioners must each live in one of the three counties in the Port district." Could the federal government add two counties to the Port district by changing the SMSA/MSA definition? Perhaps not - a Port lawyer might argue that the definition of "Portland metropolitan area" must be read as it was in the 1960s when the legislature created the Port.
However, in 2009 the legislature amended ORS 778.005 to say that "Portland metropolitan area" means "the Oregon portion of a metropolitan statistical area as designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget with an Oregon population of more than 750,000." In 2009 that sentence described Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties -- and Columbia and Yamhill Counties also, all of which were in the only metropolitan statistical area with more than 750,000 Oregon residents.
Whether or not Columbia and Yamhill Counties were in the Port district before the 2009 amendment, the legislature unambiguously brought them into the Port district in 2009. The legislature may have meant to leave the boundaries unchanged, but when legislation is plain and clear, the intent of the legislators isn't relevant. As A.P. Herbert famously said about another legislature, "If Parliament does not mean what it says then it should say so."
Is this odd fact significant? Maybe. ORS 778.210(1) requires the Governor to appoint two Port commissioners from each county in the district. Neither the current governor nor any prior governor has ever appointed the required two commissioners from Columbia County and Yamhill County. Someone in a battle with the Port might argue that as the Port's commission has not been properly constituted since 2009, perhaps the commission doesn't have the authority to do anything.
I have no dog in that prospective fight, but if I lived in Yamhill County I might write to the Governor and ask to be appointed to the Port board.
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