A Los Angeles City Council committee is scheduled Thursday to consider a series of changes to the city charter intended to bolster the independence of the Ethics Commission and enhance its enforcement powers.
The proposals to be considered by the Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform include doubling the penalties for violations of the city’s Ethics Code; increasing the size of the five-member Ethics Commission to seven with the additional members appointed by the commission; bolstering its independence; and tightening conflict of interest rules,
The proposals were created after consulting with members of the Ethics Commission and representatives of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, an aide to Council President Paul Krekorian, the committee’s chair, told City News Service.
The proposals also include:
— providing the commission with a minimum annual budget, one it controls without requiring City Council approval for specific expenditures;
— compelling the City Council to consider all commission suggestions within 120 days;
— allowing the commission to place measures on the ballot if the City Council rejects its suggestions;
— empowering the Ethics Commission to order egregious offenders to pay reasonable costs of enforcement action in addition to any other fines or penalties;
— allowing the commission to retain outside counsel;
— permitting the commission to directly hire a special prosecutor if needed;
— prohibiting elected officials from appointing to the Ethics Commission any relatives, campaign consultants or major campaign donors;
— prohibiting people from serving on the Ethics Commission who do business with the city or have any financial interest in the city’s actions; and
— allowing elected officials to remove their appointees from the commission with the approval of the City Council.
The proposed changes to the city charter would need to be approved by voters.
Council members have expressed support for placing ethics reforms on the November ballot.
The committee was created in November 2022 after the leaked recording in which three council members were caught discussing ways to redraw districts in their favor.