L.A. County Reforms Include Elected ‘Mayor,’ Budget Transparency

The nation’s most populous local government, Los Angeles County, is set to go through a dramatic restructuring — including new elected officials and greater insight into department spending.

Last month, nearly 52 percent of voters approved Measure G, which makes several changes to the way the county’s elected and appointed officials will conduct government business. The headline item is that instead of the current appointed county CEO, the county will now have an elected county executive much like a mayor.

But the measure will also bring several other changes:

• The number of supervisors will increase from five to nine.
• County departments will be required to present their annual budgets in public meetings.
• A new independent Ethics Commission will have the power to restrict lobbying activities and investigate misconduct.
• A nonpartisan legislative analyst will review proposed county policies.

The changes will take some time to go into effect, according to KNBC Los Angeles. The county has until 2026 to establish the Ethics Commission, the county executive will be elected in 2028 and the Board of Supervisors will expand following the 2030 Census.

Lindsey Horvath, one of the county supervisors who put Measure G on the ballot, wrote in a statement that a newly established Governance Reform Task Force will now hammer out the details of implementation. That process will include reviewing a proposal to also create a director of budget and management position.

The county’s Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget totals $49.2 billion.