Major reforms could be coming to Los Angeles County's government for the first time since 1912.
The nation’s most populated county, L.A. County has long been considered “under-governed.” That could change if voters approve Measure G, which would expand the Board of Supervisors and implement other changes to the county government.
If you – like many of L.A. County’s 10 million residents – have no idea how the county government really works in the first place, fear not: Supervisor Lindsey Horvath joined KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 to answer some questions.
Listen here:
Horvath explained that in addition to expanding the Board of Supervisors from five members to nine, Measure G would make the county CEO an elected position, creating an executive authority that’s fully separate from the board.
“I think we learned in elementary civics that there's an executive, a legislative, and a judicial branch of government typically at the federal, state, and local levels, except in L.A. County, where the board is the executive, the legislative, and the quasi-judicial” she said. “So separating that authority out creates the check and balance that L.A. County desperately needs to get things done.”
She said that increasing the number of seats on the board will allow for more diverse representation and make it easier for the county to respond to hyper-local issues, from road paving to delivering social services.
“Bringing that government closer to the people makes your elected officials more accountable to you and makes it easier for you to access them,” she said.
Horvath said Measure G won’t raise taxes to make the changes happen – it will all be done with existing funds.
“They brought forward a motion for our auditor controller to do an independent investigation into this charter amendment and what it would cost, and the total that he came up with was $8 million,” she said. “$8 million isn’t nothing, but out of a $49 million budget, when we’re already spending hundreds of millions of dollars to do the work of the Board of Supervisors in order to do that work better, I think that's a steal.”
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Listen to the full interview above, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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