Brown v. City of Grants Pass

“A statute displaces a local ordinance if it ‘unambiguously expresses an intention to preclude local government from regulating’ in the same area as that governed by the statutes.” Rogue Valley Sewer Services v. City of Phoenix, 357 Or. 437, 450, 353 P.3d 581, 588 (2015).

Plaintiff appealed from a judgment of the trial court, concluding that ORS 633.738, which prohibits a local government from enacting or enforcing local limits on the production or use of plant seeds, preempts an ordinance enacted by the City of Grants Pass requiring that marijuana plants grown at home for personal use be grown indoors. Plaintiff further argued that the city has enacted a local law “inhibiting or preventing” the production or use of “flower seed or nursery seed” or their products, as prohibited by ORS 633.738. The trial court granted Defendant’s motion for summary judgment. “A statute displaces a local ordinance if it ‘unambiguously expresses an intention to preclude local government from regulating’ in the same area as that governed by the statutes.” Rogue Valley Sewer Services v. City of Phoenix, 357 Or. 437, 450, 353 P.3d 581, 588 (2015). The Court of Appeals found that the absence of an explicit exclusion from ORS 633.738 is a reflection if the legislature’s intent that the home growing of marijuana is not subject to ORS 633.738; thus, there is no need to exempt it. The Court held that marijuana seeds are not a flower seed or nursery stock within the meaning of ORS 633.738; therefore, marijuana seeds are not subject to the statute’s preemptive effect. Affirmed.