The Brief

L.A.’s top homeless services official Va Lecia Adams Kellum engaged in major misconduct, including hiring unqualified friends into powerful positions, trying to destroy public records and behaving inappropriately at a conference, according to two whistleblower claim letters obtained by LAist.

The letters were written by an attorney on behalf of two former L.A. Homeless Services Authority employees who alleged they were wrongfully fired for speaking up against wrongdoing by Adams Kellum. Written claims such as these are a required step before filing a lawsuit against a local government in California.

LAHSA arranged for $800,000 to be paid to the whistleblowers — former chief financial and administrative officer Kristina Dixon and former top IT and data official Emily Vaughn Henry — to settle the claims before they became public lawsuits. The settlement amount is equivalent to what it costs to shelter as many as 40 unhoused people for a year, according to a recent audit’s summary of shelter costs.

Legal experts previously told LAist the agency was violating public records laws by withholding the whistleblowers’ written allegations that led to the payouts. But after continued questioning and two articles by LAist about the experts’ analysis, LAHSA attorneys ultimately reversed themselves and released those letters — with extensive redactions that a public records attorney says are unlawful.

Courts have repeatedly ruled that the public is entitled to know the content of misconduct complaints and investigation findings about senior government officials.

A spokesperson for Adams Kellum’s administration said LAHSA denies the allegations, but said no formal investigations were started into the specific allegations against her. Adams Kellum’s administration has not answered whether they reported the allegations to county auditor-controller investigators — something required for all allegations of abuse of LAHSA’s resources, according to an agreement LAHSA disclosed to LAist.

What the whistleblowers alleged

In the newly disclosed letters, the whistleblowers allege that:

• Adams Kellum pushed out experienced staff to hire unqualified friends and former subordinates from her previous job into high-level, high salary LAHSA roles. 
• One of these hires used their personal cell phone for official communications, in violation of agency policy.
• A LAHSA official repeatedly withheld accurate data about Mayor Karen Bass’ signature homelessness program, Inside Safe, “because [Adams] Kellum did not want Mayor Bass to look bad.” (LAist previously reported that officials withheld Inside Safe transparency reports from the L.A. City Council.) Vaughn Henry’s claim letter says Adams Kellum retaliated against her “for not being willing [to] hide the number of clients being served by Inside Safe.”
• Adams Kellum asked LAHSA’s top IT official to violate record retention laws by deleting two official emails that had been sent to Adam’s Kellum’s LAHSA email account. The whistleblower letter claims this was intended to protect the person who had emailed Adams Kellum. The emails were sent “in violation of the City's communication policies regarding using personal email for official business,” according to the claim. The name of the email sender was blacked out by LAHSA’s attorneys — which a public records attorney says is unlawful. 
• Adams Kellum engaged in “inappropriate and unethical behavior” at a conference in Washington, D.C. Vaughn Henry reported the behavior to human resources around August 2023, according to her claim. Adams Kellum subsequently retaliated against Vaughn Henry for reporting the incident, according to the claim letter. The apparent description of Adams Kellum’s alleged misbehavior at the conference was redacted by LAHSA’s attorneys, which a public records attorney says is unlawful.
• Adams Kellum wanted to spend public money on an open bar at LAHSA’s holiday party and responded angrily when told that would be an improper use of taxpayer dollars and create legal liability for LAHSA. Adams Kellum then allegedly suggested a vendor pay for the alcohol. When told that would be a conflict of interest, Adams Kellum allegedly got angry again.

LAHSA leadership failed to commission a neutral investigation into allegations, in violation of the agency’s own policy, according to one of the letters.

[Click here to read Vaughn Henry’s claim letter, and here for Dixon’s.]

Settlements prevented public lawsuit and witness testimony

The claim letters said that if LAHSA didn’t settle the claims, the former executives would file a public lawsuit and gather extensive supporting evidence and testimony for their allegations, which would become public and potentially affect city and county officials.

“Once litigation is commenced, we intend to take thorough and exhaustive discovery and depose each of the employees, managers, and officers who witnessed, encouraged, condoned, and turned a blind eye to the unlawful acts of the LAHSA, [Adams] Kellum, and elected officials having authority over LAHSA,” the letters state. “There is already a high level of public and media interest in the recent terminations at LAHSA, and a public lawsuit will undoubtedly have far-reaching repercussions for many City and County officials.”

In March, LAHSA’s governing commission authorized $800,000 in settlement payments to resolve the claims and prevent a public lawsuit. The commissioners were not provided copies of the claim letters for their decision on the settlement payments, according to LAHSA.

LAHSA paid $200,000 of the settlements out of city and county general fund money, and the other $600,000 was paid by LAHSA’s insurance provider Chubb, according to the agency.

LAHSA denies the allegations, which weren’t investigated

“The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) denied the allegations presented in the letters and resolved these matters with advice of outside counsel and based upon many factors, including business considerations,” the agency said in an emailed statement attributed to Ahmad Chapman, LAHSA’s spokesperson.

“LAHSA does not wish to ‘litigate’ this case in the media and will offer no further comment on this matter,” the statement said.

The allegations were not formally investigated.

“After a diligent search LAHSA has determined that no complaints were filed related to the allegations described, and therefore no formal investigation [was] initiated against Dr. Adams Kellum," said a public records response to LAist from Holly Henderson, risk management director at LAHSA.

Adams Kellum’s administration has not answered a follow up question about why an independent investigation was not conducted into the demand letters' allegations after they were received. They also have not answered whether the allegations against Adams Kellum were previously reported to human resources or risk management director Holly Henderson.

Other local governments have policies to hire an outside law firm or investigator to look into allegations against high-ranking officials — as Orange County did in recent years with high-ranking officials.

Adams Kellum did not respond to multiple requests for comment. She and her administration’s spokespeople declined to answer what LAHSA’s policy is for retaining official emails.

Bass’ office referred LAist’s questions to LAHSA’s attorneys, who have not responded. The questions included whether Bass has used her personal email account to communicate with Adams Kellum about official business.

LAist requested copies of the emails Adams Kellum allegedly wanted deleted. Adams Kellum’s administration did not respond for 11 days, before saying they needed an additional two weeks to answer whether they exist because they need to consult with a separate, unnamed agency interested in the records request.

Dixon and Vaughn Henry declined to comment. Their settlement agreements with LAHSA state that they cannot “volunteer knowingly or maliciously false and disparaging opinions or commentary regarding [LAHSA],” including on social media or responding to news reporters.

The settlement deals also say that LAHSA will “maintain the confidentiality of the terms, conditions, payment amounts, and other aspects of this settlement and Settlement Agreement to the extent permitted by applicable law” — despite settlement agreements being public records under the California Public Records Act.

LAHSA refused to release the records — until LAist kept pushing back

For weeks, LAHSA’s attorneys at the County Counsel’s office refused to release the whistleblower claims that led to the settlement payouts — despite courts repeatedly ruling that those types of records have to be disclosed.

The fact that the claims have been settled — and taxpayer money paid out — makes it even more clear that the public has a right to see them, said David Loy, a leading public records attorney in California and legal director at the First Amendment Coalition.

LAHSA attorneys Dan Kim and Alyssa Skolnick argued that several exemptions allowed the agency to withhold the records, including attorney-client privilege.

But Loy said none of the exemptions apply. For example, attorney-client privilege is about communications between an attorney and their own client — not claims filed by an outside party.

LAHSA’s attorneys then declined to respond to Loy’s point-by-point analysis of why their reasons for withholding the records go against court rulings.

Dan Kim, an attorney with the County Counsel’s office who had declined to release the records, is pictured on a live stream of the LAHSA Commission’s meeting on April 21, 2025.

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Screenshot of LAHSA public meeting video

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LAist has published two articles on LAHSA withholding the records in apparent violation of state law, and is continuing to question top officials about why they were withholding the documents.

LAist escalated the questioning to the county’s top attorney, County Counsel Dawyn Harrison, who oversees the attorneys refusing to release the documents.

Harrison ultimately disclosed the two documents, with redactions.

The redactions, however, are not lawful, Loy said. And most of the court rulings Harrison pointed to for the redactions require public disclosure, according to the summaries she provided of the rulings.

LAHSA’s redactions are unlawful, expert says

The claims ultimately disclosed to LAist have extensive redactions — including the name of Adams Kellum’s former employer, the names of allegedly unqualified LAHSA executives she hired, and the name of officials who allegedly used their personal email account for official business.

Loy said courts have been clear that exemptions which might be applicable in other contexts, including privacy, do not apply to written litigation claims or demands to public agencies.

If a litigation threat or demand is made and the agency settles — in these cases for $800,000 — "the public has the right to know all of the evidence claimed by the claimants to be able to assess for itself, was this a good deal or a bad deal to settle these claims,” Loy told LAist.

He strongly disputed the reasons Harrison cited for the redactions.

“The agency cannot claim attorney-client privilege over a document sent to it by their adversary’s lawyer,” he said. "I’m baffled as to how they can claim attorney-client privilege is implicated in a communication from opposing counsel.”

Harrison has not responded to a follow-up email from LAist explaining Loy’s analysis of the redactions as unlawful and asking for an explanation backing up the redactions.

Praise for Adams Kellum after $800,000 payouts

Bass and her LAHSA Commission appointee, Wendy Greuel, brought Adams Kellum to LAHSA and have been two of her highest profile supporters after a series of controversies. Those controversies include a court-overseen audit finding a lack of accountability for taxpayer dollars during her time overseeing LAHSA, and signing a $2.1 million taxpayer deal to pay a nonprofit that employs her husband as a senior leader, despite laws against conflicts of interest and Adams Kellum previously claiming she recused herself.

Bass and Greuel have spoken highly of Adams Kellum in recent weeks, including after the $800,000 payouts were approved over the misconduct claims with no public indication of an investigation into them.

In honoring Adams Kellum at a LAHSA Commission meeting last month, Greuel said she had asked Adams Kellum to apply for the LAHSA job.

“I think I [followed] you at events to tackle you to say, ‘Would you apply?’ ” Greuel said of Adams Kellum at the April 21 LAHSA Commission meeting. It was the first meeting after Adams Kellum announced she would be leaving in August, after county supervisors voted to pull county funding from LAHSA.

Bass’ family has known Adams Kellum for years. Bass’ daughter, Yvette Lechuga, started working for Adams Kellum at St. Joseph Center during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the L.A. Times.

Adams Kellum was an advisor for the mayor’s transition in late 2022, and early in her administration Bass directed LAHSA to hire Adams Kellum as a $10,000-per-week consultant to the mayor on the Inside Safe program — which Adams Kellum helped design — ahead of Adams Kellum becoming LAHSA’s CEO.

In a statement last month about Adams Kellum’s plan to leave LAHSA, Bass praised Adams Kellum’s “leadership and bold vision.”

‘Perfect shield for political responsibility’

LAHSA’s relationship with elected officials came up at a recent federal court hearing before Judge David O. Carter.

He said the agency has protected elected officials from responsibility in how billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on homelessness.

Referring to LAHSA, the judge said: “It's a perfect shield for political responsibility.”

The U.S. Justice Department has issued subpoenas to California officials in an escalation of its scrutiny of local election administration.

The Associated Press obtained copies of three subpoenas sent Oct. 21 to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, ordering them to appear in court on Nov. 4, the day after the election. The documents request any records, documents and communications related to letters sent in July and October by federal officials to state election officials outlining allegations of noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. The subpoenas also seek information relating to the office’s “methods for screening for unlawful voting by aliens” and anything about efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted.

The subpoenas were being issued by all four U.S. attorneys in California, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar, said, “threats and intimidated have no place in elections.”

Subpoenas come amid ongoing court battle

The Trump administration has sued to force California to set aside up to 20,000 ballots it suspects went to noncitizens and not count them until citizenship can be verified. A district court judge on Tuesday rejected that request, then on Thursday appointed a special master to evaluate the administration’s claims.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter did not specify the exact scope of special master Daniel B. Garrie’s responsibilities, but said he would be tasked with “developing the factual record” for the court.

In a Tuesday court hearing, Carter said he wanted to vet the federal government’s list of over 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters since there has been extensive debate over its reliability and both sides have agreed that it includes an unspecified number of citizens.

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Carter also said at the hearing that a special master could investigate California’s claims that it cannot logistically separate the ballots in time for the county election certification deadline on Dec. 3. The federal government has contested that assertion.

It is not clear what would happen if a special master did find a substantial number of noncitizen voters on the federal government’s list or whether it would affect the certification of California’s election results. The 20,000 people on the DOJ’s list constitute only a small fraction of California’s 23 million voters.

Trump administration appeals to higher court

Meanwhile, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to quickly weigh in.

The Justice Department said in a late Wednesday filing that it’s essential the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issue a ruling as soon as possible due to “irreversible ballot processing occurring on an ongoing basis.”

Carter’s decision was the latest legal setback for President Donald Trump in his efforts to expand federal control over state-run elections in the midterms that will decide control of Congress for the rest of his term. The Justice Department has made similar demands in other states, including Washington. Noncitizen voting has been a central focus of Trump’s political messaging for years, although available data indicates it is exceedingly rare.

Trump blasted Carter’s ruling against the federal government on Thursday morning before heading to a campaign rally in South Carolina.

“California is very corrupt. The elections are extremely corrupt. The judge should not have done that but we’ll appeal that, of course,” he told reporters. Trump added without evidence that there are “hundreds of thousands” and then amended it to “millions, in my opinion” of “bad ballots” in California.

Carter, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, argued that the Justice Department’s demands were a clear violation of the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits changes to voter rolls or election procedure within 90 days of an election.

A number of US citizens were included in the Justice Department’s list of names

Both sides agree that an unspecified number of citizens were inadvertently included. Carter argued that separating the ballots at this point would risk disenfranchising citizens and “wreak havoc” on the election certification process.

Over 500,000 votes have already been processed in Los Angeles County alone, according to court filings. The system also protects voter privacy: Once a vote is processed, it cannot be traced back to the person who cast it.

Carter is to rule on the government’s renewed request for a preliminary injunction, which would bar the state from counting the ballots until the litigation is resolved. He said he will do so after a Nov. 13 evidentiary hearing with input from the special master.

He said that if the federal government suspected noncitizens were voting, it could continue to prosecute those cases criminally. Federal authorities have charged over two dozen foreign nationals in California as part of a statewide sweep targeting people officials allege have illegally registered or voted in U.S. elections.

Appeals panel judges have said they wouldn’t support setting aside ballots this close to midterms

The appeal will be the second time that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will consider the case.

The first time was just last week when the Justice Department argued before an appeals court panel that a fast ruling on its request was needed to stop any counting of the ballots.

Although the panel ruled it was premature for an appeals court to get involved before a lower-court ruling, two of the three judges wrote separate concurrences making it clear they wouldn’t support setting aside ballots at this late date. They questioned the accuracy of the federal government’s list of alleged noncitizen voters and argued that to set aside votes risks disenfranchising citizens.

One judge dissented, arguing that federal law bars noncitizens from voting and requires California to vet the potentially illegal ballots before counting them. The failure to do so, he wrote, would cause irreparable harm to the election.

A group representing garment workers in Los Angeles is asking Olympic organizing committee LA28 to invest in the local garment industry, as it prepares to spend on contracts for apparel and linens for the 2028 Games.

The Garment Worker Center launched its “Wear LA” campaign Thursday at its office, which sits south of the Fashion District, where thousands of workers labor daily in the city’s garment factories, and east of the Coliseum, one of the main sites for Olympic and Paralympic competition.

“In the past, contracts have gone almost exclusively to giant multinational brands,” said Marissa Nuncio, executive director of the workers center, referencing past mega-events in Los Angeles. “It's overdue to start sharing these contracts with the businesses that make up the fabric of L.A.”

LA28 already has a raft of high-profile corporate deals, including with Skims, Ralph Lauren and Nike to produce Olympics apparel, but it is planning to purchase sheets, sports uniforms and towels starting next year, according to its procurement plans. LAist reached out to LA28 for comment, but did not hear back ahead of publication.

Olympics organizers will spend billions on goods and services during the Games, and have set a target of 75% local procurement, defining local as anywhere within Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The Garment Worker Center is the latest group to ask LA28 to tighten that definition by restricting apparel manufacturing to the city of Los Angeles. L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson is pushing a motion at City Hall asking Olympics organizers to commit to giving some contracts to businesses in the city specifically.

The center also wants LA28 to commit to sourcing goods from manufacturers that pay $25 an hour and have no outstanding wage claims. Wage theft is rampant in the garment industry.

The new campaign also takes aim at the city of Los Angeles, asking city leaders to establish a position within the Community Investment Department focused on the garment industry and develop a “Made in LA” program to give city apparel contracts to local ethical manufacturers. L.A. County is currently working on developing a similar pilot program, and the Garment Worker Center is asking the city to follow suit.

As her reelection campaign was heating up, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass held a news conference last month at an apartment complex recently built above the Vermont/Santa Monica station on the Metro B Line.

Her message: During her first term in office, the city has tackled high rents by facilitating construction of more than 10,000 new income-restricted apartments.

“Today marks an important milestone in our work to make Los Angeles more affordable for the people who call this city home,” Bass said outside the colorful, six-story apartment building.

Affordability, she said, was the city’s “number one issue.”

L.A. voters who agree with that assessment will need to decide in Tuesday’s election whether Bass has done enough on housing affordability to merit a second term, or whether her challenger, City Councilmember Nithya Raman, would do a better job addressing the deep-rooted problem.

Bass vs. Raman

Raman has pitched herself as the Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) alternative to L.A.’s status quo, bucking consensus opinion among elected leaders who have often been skeptical about the benefits of new housing construction. As a result, she has at times struggled to win majority support on the council for pro-development proposals.

Bass has made several policy changes aimed at boosting affordable housing production. But housing policy experts say the results have been mixed. One thing she didn’t mention in her announcement at the Metro stop housing project was that the building that served as a backdrop had been funded by Proposition HHH.

That $1.2 billion measure to build units for formerly unhoused tenants was supported by former Mayor Eric Garcetti and passed by voters a decade ago.

About half of the building’s 187 units are not available for most renters — they’re reserved for people exiting homelessness, in accordance with the goals of Prop. HHH. The other half is open only to tenants earning less than 50% of the area’s median income.

Jason Ward, an economist and director at Santa Monica-based policy research organization the RAND Housing Center, said permanent supportive housing units can help get chronically unhoused people off the streets, but they have “nothing to do with the housing affordability of an average low-income Angeleno household.”

An LAist analysis found that about 40% of the 10,000 affordable units built during Bass’ time in office were in projects funded by Prop. HHH. That measure passed in 2016, long before her inauguration in late 2022.

“Things that really allowed HHH to have a pretty big impact all preceded the mayor's term,” Ward said. “Any projects getting built in a current mayor's four-year term, you can just basically assume that [mayor] didn't have a lot to do with the conditions that enabled them to begin.”

LAist asked Bass’ campaign about her statements outside the apartment complex above the Metro station. A spokesperson sent LAist an email saying, “Los Angeles underbuilt housing for decades,” and “Mayor Bass changed that.”

“But the Mayor is not satisfied,” the spokesperson continued. “She's continuing to take action to finally address our city's housing crisis."

Housing accomplishments under Bass 

Some housing policy experts give Bass credit for taking some meaningful steps to speed up low-income housing creation, which they say is needed in a city where about 60% of renters spend more on housing than is considered affordable under federal government standards.

Bass signed off on what is, perhaps, her signature housing reform during her first week in office. Her Executive Directive One (ED 1) speeds up city permitting for projects where all units have rents capped at levels deemed affordable to low- and moderate-income tenants.

Developers responded to the program’s fast-tracking by submitting plans for more than 47,000 income-restricted apartments.

Shane Phillips, the housing initiative manager for the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, openly supports Raman. But he said ED 1 has been a positive change for L.A.

“It's certainly not enough, but I think it was an effective policy,” Phillips said. “In some ways, the mayor's office, I think, was a little surprised by how effective it was.”

Most of those ED 1 units remain unbuilt. Again, completing new housing developments often takes longer than a single mayoral term.

Bass’ campaign told LAist that 7,728 units in ED 1 projects are currently under construction, and 418 units are now ready for occupancy.

Bass says the affordable units completed during her time in office represent a fourfold increase from levels under the Garcetti administration.

But L.A. remains far short of meeting the housing production targets laid out in a state-required planning process. To reach those goals, the city would need to build about 23,000 units of affordable housing every year.

“We don't have a lot to be super proud of,” Phillips said. “We've kind of had this trade-off where, yes, we've been building more low-income affordable housing than in past years. But that's been offset by a reduction in housing production overall. And it's housing production overall that actually affects prices and rents for the city as a whole.”

L.A. is not alone in failing to keep up with its state housing production targets. Most cities are far behind. But Bass’ opponent argues the city could be doing much more to reach those goals.

Where has Raman disagreed with Bass?

Raman’s positions on some major housing policies offer a stark contrast with Bass.

Before it was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, Bass opposed SB 79, a recent state law that overrides local zoning restrictions to allow more housing density near major public transit lines. She said the law could “disproportionately impact low-resource neighborhoods.”

A majority of the City Council joined Bass in opposing SB 79. But Raman, who until recently chaired the City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, voted against the council’s opposition, saying state lawmakers were right to push reluctant city officials toward permitting more homes.

After ED 1 applications began flooding in, angering some homeowners near proposed projects, Bass rolled back the program. She canceled ED 1 near single-family zones and in historic districts. Nearly three-quarters of L.A.’s residential land remains reserved for single-family homes, and this zoning has been protected by Bass and other elected leaders.

Raman was the lone council member to favor allowing some controversial ED 1 projects to move forward. Her position earned strong disapproval from some homeowners in her district.

Court rulings later found that the city illegally blocked the projects.

“Working Angelenos are leaving the city every single day because they can’t afford to pay the rent,” Raman said in a recent forum. “We can change the policies in the city that have made Los Angeles one of the slowest, most unpredictable, most expensive places to build.”

Bass’ case against Raman

Bass has said that taking a more permissive approach to market-rate housing development could harm existing tenants. She has said she believes new market-rate apartments can end up gentrifying neighborhoods.

“We need housing, but we cannot displace Black and Brown people,” Bass said at another recent forum. “If you have housing that is just built anywhere and everywhere, they're coming for us.”

Bass has also said Raman’s talk on housing hasn’t produced enough results for her district, which stretches from Encino east through the Hollywood Hills and into Los Feliz. Bass’ administration says Raman’s district has seen 130 affordable units completed in the last four years, the second-lowest of any council district.

The Raman campaign has said her district was redrawn in 2022 to exclude many of the neighborhoods where affordable apartments could be built. The single-family zones that dominate her district now restrict low-income units more than in other districts, they’ve said.

“Comparing raw unit totals across districts with very different zoning doesn’t show which offices are actually doing the work to get housing built,” a campaign spokesperson said in an email.

In L.A.’s political system, mayors need to work closely with the City Council on major legislative reforms. But during Raman’s time in City Hall, she has not been able to convince a majority of her colleagues to explore making certain single-family zones more dense, to exempt new apartments from the city’s “mansion tax” or to join her in other housing-related reforms.

“There's a lot of unwillingness to do things dramatically different than the status quo, at least on average, in the City Council,” Ward said. “I think that's going to continue to be a challenge.”

A Raman campaign spokesperson told LAist in an email that some of her reforms, such as speeding up utility hookups for new buildings, could be enacted without council approval.

“Much of her platform is focused on cutting red tape and implementing bureaucratic reforms that fall squarely under the powers of the mayor,” they said.

Where the candidates are aligned 

Both Bass and Raman have been eager to take credit for lowering the city’s rent control caps, which apply to annual rent increases for most of the city’s apartment dwellers.

As chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, Raman oversaw legislative debate on the new policy, which lowered the city’s maximum allowable rent increase from 10% to 4%.

Bass signed that reform into law last year.

Both have also supported efforts to rein in Measure ULA, the city’s so-called “mansion tax.” Many economists blame the tax, which applies to all kinds of real estate selling for more than $5.4 million, for dragging down the development of new apartment buildings.

Bass said her support for “mansion tax” reforms at the state level fell apart as Sacramento lawmakers hit a legislative deadline last year.

Raman’s proposal to ask voters to cancel the tax on new apartment buildings never made it to a vote in the City Council.

For more on Los Angeles-area races in the upcoming election, go to LAist's Voter Game Plan.