While two motions passed a City Council committee Thursday aimed at supporting efforts for governance reform, council members punted proposals for expanding council districts to another day.
The Ad Hoc Committee City Governance Reform Committee agreed to hold the issue of council expansion until their next meeting, sometime in January. Some of the council members even pondered holding off on council expansion until after the November 2024 election and passing on the responsibility to another city body.
In the meantime, the seven-member committee requested the Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst to prepare a report back addressing the many questions they had on the impacts council expansion will have on the city.
“We still have a lot of work to do in resolving some of those questions that you have all raised that I don’t know that we can get clear answers in time to make if for the November ballot,” said Council President Paul Krekorian, who chairs the ad hoc committee.
The committee is considering expanding the number of council districts from the current 15 to anywhere between 17 and 32 — as advised by leading academics, community groups and other best practices across the nation.
But the committee has also contemplated moving away from their district elections to a different model such as a mixed-model. For example, the L.A. Governance Reform Project, led by a group of university leaders and researchers, had proposed expanding council to 25 members, four of which would be elected at-large.
As part of this endeavor, the committee is examining how to best stagger election cycles to ensure a fair system as well.
During Thursday’s deliberations, the key issue council members discussed was what that “sweet” number to expand to would be.
“I’ve been pretty open in this committee about the fact that I do think reducing council district size should be an important goal of our work in this body,” said Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who sits on the committee. “But I also do think that questions that members have brought up in this committee are valid questions that deserve at least some discussion.”
One main question committee members mulled over was how council expansion would impact the city’s budget and exacerbate existing challenges in providing city services.
Additionally, another issue the six council members continued to come back to was something poised by Councilwoman Traci Park — whether council expansion would support efforts to deter corruption.
Council members also expressed that perhaps increasing the number of council districts could actually make issues of corruption much worse.
“The fact that our decision-making structure here is so fragmented between the mayor and 15 council districts has direct connections to why we are in the position that we’re in today on this particular issue.”
Park added, “Unless I see a plan that establishes the staffing and the funding to support the workload that this is inherently going to create I’m going to have a really hard time supporting expansion at all.”
In a city of about 4 million, each L.A. City Council member represents about 260,000 people on average — the largest in any other city in the country, according to a city report.
New York City has 51 council members for 8 million residents, each council member represents about 140,000 constituents. Chicago has 50 alderpersons for 2 million residents, each leader represents about 40,000 residents.
The committee voted unanimously to approve two separate motions, as well.
The first motion, introduced by council members Eunisses Hernandez and Tim McOsker, seeks to establish an independent budgeting process and apolitical funding source for the Ethics Commission.
A second motion, introduced by Krekorian, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and McOsker, seeks to establish a Charter Reform Commission, which would be charged with evaluating and providing recommendations on City Charter reform for future ballots.
Both motions were approved and will move forward to the full City Council at a future date.
According to Krekorian, the ad hoc committee may consider leaving the issue of council expansion to this Charter Reform Commission. The benefit of this would be to have a citizen-led group decide the future of city governance rather than elected officials, however, it would most likely happen after the November 2024 election.
In a letter to committee members, co-signed by California Clean Money Campaign, Green Party of Los Angeles County, League of Women Voters of Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles for Democracy Vouchers, Represent L.A., Unrig L.A. and West Valley People’s Alliance — organizations lending their expertise and advocating for governance reform — the City Council must take greater steps.
In the letter, the groups applauded the committee for considering Hernandez’s motion. But they say, the motion should “serve to supplement, and not to replace” another motion detailing extensive reforms intended to empower the Ethics Commission.
“Now is the time for meaningful changes to the way City Hall works. A protected budget alone will do little to meet the moment or restore trust in City Hall,” the letter reads. “The other reforms being advanced on redistricting and council size are important, but full implementation of these measures is unlikely to happen until 2032.”
“L.A. residents rose up last year demanding immediate change, and we ask this council to deliver comprehensive charter ethics reforms to the 2024 ballot,” the letter continues.
Calls for governance reform were heightened by a series of corruption scandals plaguing City Hall, and the 2022 leaked recording in which three council members, two of them now gone, were caught discussing ways to redraw districts in their favor.
On Wednesday, the City Council unanimously approved a proposal for the creation of an independent redistricting commission, which will be charged with the redistricting process.
Redistricting takes place every 10 years, following the completion of the U.S. Census, to account for population shifts. Under the city’s current system, council members appoint redistricting commissioners who create new maps, which are then forwarded to the council for approval and implementation.
The proposal will be prepared and placed on the November 2024 ballot for voters to decide.
In addition, the office of the chief legislative analyst is expected to come back to the ad hoc committee at a future date with recommendations to establish an independent redistricting commission and process for LAUSD.