Voter-approved funds for PCEF are severely under attack at the moment. There are a number of efforts to raid these funds for purposes distant from their original mission and the Equity Plus Climate Framework developed by their community oversight team.
Not only have police advocates been dishonest while gathering signatures for a November ballot measure that could raid PCEF to fund police, but Mayor Wilson has been pushing for PCEF funds for up to $600M in Moda Center renovations over the next several years, at the request of Tom Dundon, billionaire owner of the Trailblazers basketball team.
City Council members have also proposed various uses for PCEF interest funds which, while legal, is again not in line with the PCEF mission.
There are really NO excess funds as claimed, because it has been shown that even with the unexpected higher revenue, the fund is only 1.5% of what would be needed to fulfill the City’s Climate Emergency Plan. Through the Climate Investment Plan process, all funds have been allocated, many for multiple-year projects which will be endangered if funds are raided.
Please testify and/or observe at the online PCEF meeting on July 23 from 6-8 pm. To register: https://www.portland.gov/bps/cleanenergy/grant-committee/events/2026/7/23/pcef-committee-meeting-july-23-2026. In the weeks ahead, the public will need to rally behind PCEF to protect these critical climate investments and ensure that funds are used for the purposes that voters approved.
