The Portland City Council will vote as soon as next week on a proposed ban on the use of algorithms to set residential rents.

Following a tense debate Wednesday, Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney moved the proposed ordinance, championed by Councilor Angelita Morillo, to a second reading.

The move revives a proposal that, as of this spring, had been shaping into the City Council’s first major policy enactment before Morillo abruptly pulled it from consideration.

At the time, she pointed to ongoing litigation outside of Portland but related to the algorithms. The councilor appeared to be referring to real estate firm RealPage’s lawsuit against Berkeley, California, which has attempted to stop landlords from using its software to set rents.

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