The Votes Are In!
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Politics Nov 07, 2024
| Photo courtesy of the LA County Board of Supervisors/YouTube
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Los Angeles County voters turned out in favor of raising the sales tax a half-cent to fund homelessness programs but were divided on expanding the Board of Supervisors and other government restructuring, according to election results released Wednesday afternoon.
Supporters of Measure A, which extended and raised a sales tax for anti-homelessness programs, declared victory Wednesday as vote-counting continued.
According to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office, Measure A passed with 55.8% and nearly 300,000 more yes than no votes. More than 1.1 million ballots from Tuesday’s election still need to be counted — roughly 1 million vote-by-mail ballots, 104,000 conditional voter registration ballots and 12,100 provisional ballots. The county will also accept vote-by-mail ballots for a week if they have a postmark no later than Nov. 5.
Despite the still-to-be-counted votes, the Yes on Measure A campaign declared victory Wednesday afternoon.
“The passage of Measure A demonstrates the power of what can be accomplished when working families join with over 150 community organizations, homeless services providers, housing advocates, local and elected officials to find solutions to the issues facing our communities,” Yvonne Wheeler, president of the LA Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work together to bring about the change voters want and our county needs.”
David Green, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 721, said the measure’s passage was a “historic vote” for LA county.
“Voters are clear that they want bold solutions to addressing our county’s most pressing issue,” Green said in a statement. “Measure A gives us the tools to do just that. Because of the investment voters are willing to make, we’ll be able to implement and expand proven solutions to reduce homelessness while making Los Angeles County more affordable.”
The coalition of supporters who led the initiative drive that got the measure on the ballot included more than 80 organizations, including the L.A. County Federation of Labor, California Community Foundation, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, SEIU 721, among others.
Proponents, which included more than 80 labor and charitable organizations, said they aim to dedicate more funding generated from the $0.05 sales tax to add more affordable housing, increase access to treatment for mental health disorders and drug addiction and enhance accountability measures via a legal requirement to deliver results.
According to Measure A, 60% of the sales tax revenue will fund homelessness services with 15% of that distributed to cities based on the annual count of county residents experiencing homelessness. Another 35.75% of the revenue will fund the county’s Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, established last year under state law to oversee efforts to reduce homeless.
The ballot measure’s opponents argued it would create an endless tax burden on residents with no guarantee that the additional sales tax money would end or ease the homelessness crisis.
“Measure A is a sales tax increase to pay for the same failed homelessness programs,” according to a statement from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “Auditors are still trying to figure out where all the money went and why homelessness is worse than before the tax increase. Measure H doesn’t expire until 2027, so there is time for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to develop a better plan to address homelessness, without raising taxes.”
The association took issue with tax dollars awarded to nongovernmental organizations that are not transparent.
“Homelessness increased from about 46,000 in L.A. County before the Measure H tax increase in 2017 to about 75,000 now,” according to the association. “This is a failure, and this broken model should not be made permanent.”
LA Mayor Karen Bass and LA County Sheriff Robert Luna were among the officials who supported Measure A.
Bass countered critics’ concerns about accountability, noting that the measure was written with mandates for clearly defined results and expectations.
“Money will be taken away from programs that do not deliver results,” Bass told reporters last month. “I want to make it clear that I mean business, and Measure A means business.”
Luna said, “We’re here to continue to make sure that our law enforcement officers, our first responders, continue to have options to help people dealing with homelessness, mental health and addiction, so it doesn’t lead to possible incarceration.”
Measure A is a means of “helping our neighbors, and keeping our neighborhoods safe,” Luna added.
Measure G
A proposed massive restructuring of Los Angeles County’s government, including expanding the Board of Supervisors and making the county CEO an elected position, was still in limbo with the results of Tuesday’s election too close to call.
Election results published Wednesday afternoon showed voters almost evenly divided on Measure G. Yes votes held a slight lead of 50.3%-49.7%, with an approximately 15,000-vote separation between the two sides out of 2.3 million ballots counted.
A voter-enacted Measure G would increase the Board of Supervisors from five to nine members following the 2030 Census and the county CEO would convert from an appointed to elected office by 2028. The ballot initiative would also create the positions of county legislative analyst and director of budget and management.
Measure G also creates a charter-codified Ethics Commission and a compliance officer by 2026 and a commission that would review the county charter every 10 years. It seeks to require all county departments to present their annual budgets during public meetings and all Board of Supervisors agenda items be posted at least 120 hours before a regular meting.
Further, the measure authorizes suspension of an elected official charged with a felony connected with a violation of officials duties, and it creates a task force to oversee the implementations of the changes that must be made with no added expense to taxpayers.
Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn initiated the proposed charter overhaul, which Supervisor Hilda Solis supported.
Horvath and Hahn have said the County Charter and its five-member board format were adopted in 1912, when the population was about 500,000, compared with its current 10 million residents and 88 incorporated cities.
Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger, however, voted against placing Measure G on the ballot. They suggested the proposed governance makeover was rushed and questioned if nine would be the proper number of supervisors on an expanded board.
Barger and Mitchell also opposed the notion of an elected CEO.
“The people of L.A. County deserve results from their elected leaders, not more elected positions without accountability and increased spending that takes from an already strained county budget working to address the homeless and mental health crisis,” according to a ballot argument signed by Mitchell, Barger and union officials representing county firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.
Opponents have also questioned whether the governmental adjustments could be implemented without any additional costs borne by taxpayers following the creation of new elected offices and county staff positions.
