City Council Chambers at Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Jose Herrera, City News Service
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday, June 18, unanimously created Los Angeles’ first-ever Charter Reform Commission, tasked with recommending a wide-ranging overhaul of government processes, including expanding the City Council and increasing transparency.
City council members voted 13-0 to pass the ordinance, with the goal of allowing the commission to propose a charter amendment that Los Angeles voters could consider on the November 2026 ballot.
Council Chairman Paul Krekorian said committee appointments will be made shortly and work on the new committee will begin shortly.
“Given the breadth of what’s in our city charter and the number of issues that are outlined in it, it’s really incumbent on us to update it on a regular basis and make sure the city is being run as effectively and efficiently as possible and with the greatest amount of transparency and accountability,” Krekorian said before Tuesday’s vote.
The City Council’s action marks the culmination of months of work by a task force on city government reform that Krekorian created to increase transparency and address corruption in the wake of the release of racist audio recordings of three City Council members that rocked City Hall in 2022.
Krekorian said this is the first time the city has created a charter reform committee.
The committee could consider a range of issues, from the city’s land use process to the role of the Ethics Commission, how to fill vacant elected offices, the impact when elected officials are censured or suspended from office, and even the issue of expanding the City Council.
The council has 15 members, but supporters of expansion say there are calls from across the board to increase the number of members and make it a smaller, more representative and transparent constituency.
According to the ordinance passed Tuesday, the Charter Reform Commission will be made up of 13 members who will be appointed in two stages.
Four commissioners are appointed by the Mayor, and the Speaker and Acting Speaker appoint two each, all of whom must be approved by the full City Council. The initial eight commissioners then appoint five additional commissioners, who also must be approved by the City Council.
An executive director, selected by the mayor and council speaker, will assist the committees, as well as the offices of the chief legislative analyst, city administrator, city clerk and city attorney.
As part of its work, the committee will be required to gather feedback from a range of residents and groups, and will also need to develop an outreach and engagement plan, including an effort to gather input from at least 60% of the city’s neighborhood councils.
Krekorian said the committee will launch a public relations effort after a “thorough outreach process.”
The reform recommendations are due to be debated by Parliament by January 2026, with a deadline for approval by April 2, 2026. This will give lawmakers time to debate these issues and ultimately put amendments on the November 2026 ballot for voters to decide.
The timeline also aligns with the city’s budgeting process, according to a report from the Chief Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Krekorian said unless the commission’s term is extended, the commission will disband after making its recommendations for the November 2026 ballot. Subsequent charter reform commissions would be established every 10 years after 2026, according to Tuesday’s ordinance.
“This would impose the discipline of reviewing the charter every 10 years, rather than waiting another quarter century,” Krekorian said.
The impetus for charter reform came from the 2022 racist audio scandal.
The leaked recordings show three city council members, two of whom are out, discussing how to redraw districts to their advantage under the current redistricting system, which takes effect every 10 years but allows incumbents to have the final say.
Additionally, three former city council members, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander, have been indicted on corruption charges in recent years, with Ridley-Thomas being indicted for his actions while on the county Board of Supervisors.