{"id":75750,"date":"2025-07-19T16:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/75750\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T16:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T16:00:09","slug":"its-a-bureaucratic-whodunit-who-killed-measure-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/75750\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a bureaucratic whodunit: Who killed Measure J?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record \u2014 our City Hall newsletter. It\u2019s Rebecca Ellis, with an assist from Julia Wick and Noah Goldberg, giving you the latest on city and county government. <\/p>\n

The \u2018five little queens\u2019 of L.A. County agree: accidentally wiping out a ballot measure is not a good look.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a \u201cbureaucratic disaster,\u201d Supervisor Lindsey Horvath<\/b> said this week of the revelation<\/a> that voters had wiped out the promise of hundreds of millions toward services that keep people out of jail. That snafu happened when voters approved her completely unrelated ballot measure<\/a> in November to change the county\u2019s form of government.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear, the supervisors say, someone messed up badly. But who?<\/p>\n

The bureaucratic whodunit has confounded county observers \u2014 even those who once were creatures of the county themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t figure it out,\u201d said Zev Yaroslavsky<\/b>, a former longtime county supervisor. \u201cThe charter amendment just disappeared. I just don\u2019t know how that happened, mechanically.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The mistake, it seems, began with the county\u2019s executive office, which supports the five politicians with the less glamorous, administrative parts of the job \u2014 preparing meeting agendas and guiding the board through marathon Tuesday meetings.<\/p>\n

One of the lesser-known job requirements: updating the county charter \u2014 think of it like the county\u2019s constitution \u2014 when voters make changes at the ballot box. To do that, the executive office is supposed to submit the change to Municode, the online vendor hosting the county\u2019s charter<\/a>, when the measure passes. <\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

In 2020, voters approved Measure J<\/a>, enshrining the promise of hundreds of millions toward services that keep people out of jail in the charter. Only the language was never actually added to the official charter document.<\/p>\n

Executive Officer Edward Yen<\/b>, who was sworn into the top job last year, told his bosses Tuesday that the office was cleaning up its act.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis failure of this magnitude is the reason why we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said at the Tuesday board meeting, noting he\u2019d found his office\u2019s policies \u201climited and lacking\u201d when he came on the job. <\/p>\n

Celia Zavala<\/b>, the former executive officer who retired in January 2024 after more than three decades with the county, couldn\u2019t be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

The executive office called its role \u201cpurely ministerial\u201d when it came to charter amendments and said it was working closely with the lawyers to make sure future changes were \u201caccurately and promptly reflected in the charter.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was sloppy governance, but \u2014 until recently \u2014 it didn\u2019t really matter. Voters approved the measure, so it was, legally speaking, part of the county\u2019s governing document, even if you couldn\u2019t open up the charter and see it.<\/p>\n

But when a majority of county supervisors decided they wanted to revamp the county government last year, the outdated document became a real problem.<\/p>\n

County counsel had their marching orders<\/a>: They were to create a ballot measure, known as Measure G, that would overhaul the county government, expanding the five-person board of elected supervisors to nine and bringing on a new elected executive, who would act almost as a mayor of the county<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it works, says Yaroslavsky. A supervisor has the vision. The lawyers create a ballot measure that makes it a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put it into the secret language of legalese that none of us understand. And it wasn\u2019t like we took a magnifying glass to it,\u201d said Yaroslavsky, who sponsored a ballot measure in 2002<\/a> to raise money for the county\u2019s trauma care network. \u201cI don\u2019t think I had any lawyers on my staff at the time \u2014 and certainly not legislative experts. So, I mean, you have to rely on your lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

To change the county government, county lawyers wrote a ballot measure that would repeal most of a section of the charter \u2014 called Article III \u2014 in 2028. That section details the powers of the board \u2014 and, most consequentially, includes the requirement from Measure J that the board funnel hundreds of millions toward anti-incarceration services.<\/p>\n

County lawyers rewrote that chunk of the charter with the new changes the board wanted to make to the county\u2019s form of government \u2014 but left out the anti-incarceration funding.<\/p>\n

So when voters approved Measure G, they unwittingly repealed Measure J.<\/p>\n

The county counsel, led by Dawyn Harrison<\/b>, said in a statement last week that the fault lies with a \u201cprior Executive Officer administration.\u201d The charter wasn\u2019t updated, so they were left in the dark about what they needed to include in the new version.<\/p>\n

But some say the county lawyers \u2014 who drafted both ballot measures and therefore were presumably familiar with that part of charter\u2014 share some of the responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an inexcusable administrative failing of the County\u2019s Executive Office and Counsel,\u201d Supervisor Holly Mitchell<\/b> said last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just amazing that you wouldn\u2019t recall that you had Measure J,\u201d said John Fasana<\/b>, the former Duarte City Council member who first spotted the mistake. <\/p>\n

County counsel said in a statement that it was unrealistic. They were going off of what was posted on the online charter, which they said they\u2019re expected to treat \u201cas the governing law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that county attorneys should have \u2018just known\u2019 a provision was missing assumes we memorize every law ever passed,\u201d county counsel said in a statement. \u201cThat\u2019s not how the law works, and it couldn\u2019t function if we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek Hsieh<\/b>, head of the sheriff\u2018s deputy union that opposed both ballot measures, says the buck stops at the top.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe responsibility for this is with Los Angeles County supervisors. They are in charge, they take responsibility,\u201d said Hsieh, underscoring one didn\u2019t need to have had a law degree to figure this out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd by the way, John Fasana\u2019s not a lawyer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

State of play<\/p>\n

\u2014 MEASURE J(K): <\/b>County supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to ask their lawyers<\/a> to find a way to bring back Measure J. The county says it\u2019s looking at multiple options to try to get the measure permanently back in the charter including a change in state law, a court judgment or a ballot measure for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2014 A HELPING HAND:<\/b> County officials say a cash fund<\/a> for families financially reeling from federal immigration raids will be stood up within a month. It\u2019s not clear yet who will be eligible or how much a family could expect to collect.<\/p>\n

\u2014 HOMELESSNESS HOPE: <\/b>For the second straight year, the city and county saw declines in the number of homeless people<\/a>. The number of people experiencing homelessness in the county dropped 4% in 2025, including a 10% decrease in people living on the street, according to the county\u2019s annual point-in-time homeless count.<\/p>\n

\u2014 TRUMP BASH:<\/b> A day after the Pentagon ordered the withdrawal of half the National Guard troops deployed in L.A., Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/b> held a press conference in Downey to criticize the president<\/a> for wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to appear \u201ctough\u201d by punishing immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u2014 PALISADES PERSPECTIVE:<\/b> Mayor Karen Bass\u2019<\/b> political image was badly bruised in the wake of the fires, but she has compensated amid a string of historically good headlines<\/a> in recent days. However, six months after the fires, she still faces some harsh critics in the Palisades, where the devastation is still palpable.<\/p>\n

\u2014 TRAGEDY WHILE TRAINING:<\/b> Three deputies were killed on Friday<\/a> in an explosion at the L.A. County Sheriff\u2019s Department\u2019s Biscailuz Training Center in East L.A. The agency has a history of dangerous incidents at its training facilities, with at least four fires at its mobile shooting ranges in the last 12 years.<\/p>\n

\u2014 ICE IN JAIL:<\/b> The sheriff\u2019s department has resumed transferring jail<\/a> inmates to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the first time in years. Eight inmates were released to ICE in May and a dozen more in June. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna<\/b> said he has \u201cno choice\u201d <\/a>in the matter. He said the department must follow federal judicial warrants seeking the transfer of inmates in its county jails.<\/p>\n

\u2014 COSTLY CROSSWALK: <\/b>A jury decided this week<\/a> that the city must pay nearly $50 million to a man who has been in a coma since he was hit by a sanitation truck while crossing a street in Encino. The verdict comes as the city continues to struggle with escalating legal liability payouts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 MOUNTING LIABILITY:<\/b> The county\u2019s no stranger to big payouts either. The supervisors approved a $14-million settlement<\/a> this week to Alexander Torres<\/b>, who spent more than 20 years in prison for a murder that he did not commit.<\/p>\n

QUICK HITS<\/p>\n