So much to vote on – not only do you need to make choices about the Culver City Council, and the CCUSD School Board, Los Angeles County voters will vote on a charter amendment that – if it passes – will begin a process to reform the county’s governance structure. The ballot initiative proposes creating an independent ethics commission, expanding the County Board of Supervisors, and adding an elected countywide executive office.
According to the news site LA Public Press, “The disagreement on the Board couldn’t be more obvious than in the voting. The proposed charter amendment received three out of the five votes, with supervisors Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger voting against it in the first and second reading of the ordinance, and abstaining from voting on the initial motion.
“After more than 100 years of status quo this is a proposal that gives Angelenos a chance to shape a county governance structure fit for the 21st Century,” said Supervisor Lindsay Horvath at a Board of Supervisors meeting in July.
Several community-based organizations such as the Social Justice Learning Institute, Community Coalition, and the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN) signed onto a letter submitted to the Board at the last meeting of July asking the supervisors to reconsider the charter amendment.
The letter describes the proposed amendment “fundamentally flawed” and “not backed by empirical evidence and lack of true community engagement.”
Horvath, the sponsor of the governance reform motion, referenced a survey conducted earlier this year showing that LA County voters support a charter amendment and government reform. However, the survey has been criticized for having a small sample data of 854 likely voters in comparison to the almost 10 million people that live in the county.
There’s so much more to the proposal than the few words on the ballot. Click on the link to the full 35 page charter amendment.
Last year, Horvath and Mitchell co-sponsored a motion directing county officials to identify a consultant to review the county’s governance model and identify potential improvements, including expansion. The motion emphasized the importance of “public participation” in the Board’s decision-making processes as a means to achieving more “equitable policy outcomes” for some of the county’s more vulnerable communities, including low-income communities of color and recent immigrants. However, a year and a half later, a consultant has not been selected much less has a study begun.
If passed, the Board expansion will not happen until the 2030 redistricting process, and the four new seats will not be elected until 2032.
