By ANUSHA SHANKAR
Following voters’ approval of an overhaul to county governance, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday to begin implementing the changes, including a compromise that combined two competing proposals over the makeup of a task force that’ll oversee the process.
Among the provisions of Measure G is an expansion of the Board of Supervisors from five to nine members following the 2030 census, and making the county CEO an elected position by 2028. The measure also includes the creation of the positions of county legislative analyst and director of budget and management.
Measure G also formalizes the establishment of an Ethics Commission and a compliance officer by 2026. The Board of Supervisors has already begun the process of creating an Ethics Commission, but its existence will now be codified in the charter, along with the establishment of the compliance officer post, protecting it from being disbanded in future absent another public vote.
The measure also had a series of other provisions, including the creation of a commission that would review the county charter every 10 years; requiring all county departments to present their annual budgets during public meetings; requiring all Board of Supervisors agenda items to be posted at least 120 hours prior to a regular meting; authorizing suspension of an elected official charged with a felony relating to a violation of officials duties; and requiring that the changes be made with no additional cost to taxpayers.
Board of Supervisors Chair Lindsey Horvath, who helped spearhead Measure G, introduced a motion aimed at beginning the process of implementing various changes included in the ballot item, including a proposed makeup of the task force that will guide the process.
But fellow Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who had vocally opposed Measure G, introduced a separate proposal for the makeup of the task force. The competing proposals had many similarities, but differed in the number of task force members — Horvath proposed 13 while Mitchell suggested 15 — and the process in which they would be chosen.
During Tuesday’s meeting, however, Mitchell instead proposed a series of amendments to Horvath’s motion that outlined procedures for selecting the task force members and included some requirements for super-majority votes by the task force on select issues.
Horvath accepted the amendments to her motion, saying “our desire has always been … that we bring all voices into the conversation,” and it was ultimately approved by the board. Mitchell then withdrew her original competing motion.
The resulting compromise motion calls for an application process for people who want to serve on the task force. In the end, each of the five members of the Board of Supervisors will appoint one member to the task force, and those appointed members will in turn select an additional five members from the pool of applicants, with those at-large selections representing the business sector, municipal government, community organizations and a person with experience in public sector ethics.
The remaining three members of the task force will be nominated by labor groups — one by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, one by the Service Employees International Union Local 721 and one by the Coalition of County Unions.
Horvath noted in her original motion that the county can immediately implement provisions of Measure G requiring open departmental budget hearings and barring former county officials from lobbying the county for at least two years from the time they leave county employment.
In placing Measure G before voters, Horvath and Supervisor Janice Hahn argued that the County Charter was adopted in 1912, when the population was about 500,000. But the county now has 10 million residents and encompasses 88 cities within its border, yet the Board of Supervisors still has only five members.
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Mitchell and Supervisor Kathryn Barger opposed the measure, saying the changes were being rushed forward, and questioning if nine would be the proper number of members on an expanded board.
They also opposed the concept of an elected CEO, saying in a ballot argument against the measure that the person would lack accountability, serving with no term limits while endowed with the power to control the county’s massive budget and weakening the Board of Supervisors’ authority over the budget and the ability to hold department heads accountable.
Opponents had also contested the notion that the changes could be implemented without any new costs to taxpayers, given its creation of new elected positions and county offices.