Measure G would nearly double the size of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County voters will determine whether to approve Measure G, an amendment that would change the makeup of the Board of Supervisors by nearly doubling its five seats to nine, a move proponents say will better provide residents with adequate representation.
The Los Angeles County Charter, which was adopted in 1912, established the five-member Board of Supervisors at a time when the county's population hovered around 500,000.
Now, with nearly 10 million residents living in the same area, each supervisor currently represents about two million people, a tall task for supervisors looking to meet their constituent's needs when it comes to local laws.
Measure G, which is officially called the "Los Angeles County Government Structure, Ethics and Accountability Charter Amendment," was proposed by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn in 2023. It was advanced by Horvath, Hahn and supervisor Hilda Solis in June, with board members Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger abstaining from the vote.
Supporters believe that the measure will not only allow supervisors to provide more in-depth representation to residents in their vast districts, but say that constituents would also receive better access to their elected officials.
On top of increasing the amount of supervisors, Measure G also aims to replace a county-appointed chief executive with a voter-approved representative, and would implement a new ethics commission to police officials' behavior.
LA County voters have rejected the idea of expanding the Board of Supervisors eight times since 1926, most recently in 2000.
Opponents including Barger and Holly Mitchell question whether the changes would actually come at no cost to taxpayers and county funds.
"I just think there's too much risk for us to take a bite of the apple that's not absolutely ideal," Mitchell said in June.
Horvath said that the proposed changes would not involve any sort of tax hike for constituents, and that they would be implemented at no additional cost to the public.
"We will take our existing budget and reallocate the funds to implement the measure," she said during a meeting in June.
