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Oregon GMO task force exempt from public meetings law

Tracy Loew
Statesman Journal

Gov. John Kitzhaber's new GMO task force is not subject to Oregon's public meetings law, his office has told a farmer who wanted to find out when its meetings would be held.

GMO initiatives still abound around Oregon

That means the task force doesn't need to let people know when it will meet or what will be discussed, allow public attendance, or keep records of what it does.

But Les Ruark isn't giving up. The Arlington, Ore., wheat and alfalfa farmer has more than a passing familiarity with the public meetings law, enacted in 1973.

"I was fortunate to have sat in the very hearing room in which those statutes were initiated and discussed, and later adopted," Ruark said. "I was a page at that time."

Ruark went on to have a long career at the Capitol, working as a legislative assistant, a member of the Senate floor staff, and on the staff of a Senator.

"As it stands today, the task force is portrayed as an open affair yet it's being, for all practical purposes, functionally orchestrated," Ruark wrote in an email to the Governor's office. "A situation I recognize is intended to exemplify a unique approach, but one that is actually and simultaneously exemplifying an inappropriate image."

Kitzhaber promised the task force back in October, when a bill barring local governments from regulating genetically modified crops and seeds was added to his "grand bargain" tax and school funding package as a condition of passage.

The legislature had just rejected a similar bill.

Kitzhaber argued that regulating agriculture should be up to the state. In a letter to legislative leaders, Kitzhaber said the task force would propose legislation addressing GMOs for the 2015 legislative session.

A few months later, his office said the task force will not reach consensus or recommend legislation. Instead, it will identify and frame the major issues.

Kitzhaber also charged the task force with directing an Oregon Department of Agriculture report, due by the end of June, which will set out a plan for mapping where and when genetically engineered crops are grown and for providing buffers and exclusion zones.

On April 9, the Governor's office made public the names of the task force members, and announced they would hold their first meeting 23 hours later.

That wouldn't have been allowed under the public meetings law.

Under the law, meetings announced fewer than 24 hours in advance are emergency meetings. To be held, the public boy must point to some reason why the meeting could not be delayed to allow adequate notice.

That angered Ruark, who made a formal request under the law to be notified of meetings and provided with agendas.

Ruark made the request of Portland State University's Oregon Consensus Program, which is being paid $125,000 to coordinate the work of the task force, but has not received a response.

He also wrote to Rachel Wray, Kitzhaber's press secretary, who responded on Thursday, April 24, that the task force does not fall under the public meetings law.

"I am surprised, and disappointed, at what certainly, from afar, appears to be a matter of intentionally issuing short notice of both the announcement of the task force membership and its initial meeting," Ruark wrote.

In an email to the newspaper Friday, April 25, Wray said the task force is not subject to the public meetings law because it is not a decision-making or policy-making body and will not reach consensus or make recommendations.

The public records law applies to bodies that have authority to make recommendations to a public body on policy or administration.

Kitzhaber also charged the Oregon Department of Agriculture with preparing a report, due by the end of June, which will set out a plan for mapping where and when genetically engineered crops are grown and for providing buffers and exclusion zones.

Agriculture Department officials have said they are waiting on direction from the task force to begin that work. That direction likely would make the task force subject to public meetings law.

On Friday, Wray said the task force would not direct the department's work.

Wray said task force meetings will be open to the public. In the future, agendas and meeting summaries will be posted online, she said. And the public will be able to comment on the draft report before it is finalized.

Ruark said he hasn't decided how he feels about GMOs.

"I really feel the task force is going to be able to foster some constructive discussion of the issue and enable those of us who are undecided to learn and make a decision," he said. "That's why the process has to be as open as possible."

tloew@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/SJWatchdog

Task force

More information about the Governor's Task Force on Genetically Engineered Agriculture is available here.

GMO task force scheduled to meet in April

Click here to read all the emails between Ruark, Portland State University and Gov. Kitzhaber's office.