The Brief

Voters in Huntington Beach appear on track to approve two ballot measures that would allow the city to ask for voter ID and restrict which flags can be flown from government flagpoles.

Protect Huntington Beach, the main group opposed to the ballot measures, conceded defeat in social media posts on Wednesday evening.

According to the Orange County Registrar of Voters' latest tally, "yes" votes on the voter ID measure, Measure A, were ahead by 53%.

On Measure B, the flag restrictions, "yes" votes were ahead by 57%.

Measure A

This is the so-called Voter ID measure on Huntington Beach's ballot. It has been referred to in some corners as Measure A, and also as Measure 1.

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Measure B

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These election results are being closely watched both inside and outside the city.

The measures are one of the first big tests of residents' feelings about the city's sharp turn to the right under the leadership of an ultra-conservative city council majority, elected in 2022.

Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark said the results were validating. "It does, in a sense, give peace of mind that this is what the voters asked for, it's not just us on the dais," Van Der Mark said.

When LAist spoke to her the Thursday morning after the election, Van Der Mark said she was at city hall waiting to speak with city attorney Michael Gates about the next steps toward implementing Measure A, which wouldn't take effect until the 2026 election. She said she expected a legal challenge from the state.

"I do anticipate Sacramento is going to come after us, they always do," she said.

Still, she said she's committed to implementing the measure.

Connie Boardman, a former Huntington Beach mayor who is part of the Protect Huntington Beach group, told LAist she was disappointed in the results but that they were not unexpected. "We knew it was an uphill battle," Boardman said, noting that voters in primary elections tend to skew Republican.

Despite voters' approval of the voter ID measure, it's almost sure to face major hurdles to implementation. State officials have already warned the city that asking for voter ID and monitoring ballot boxes — also part of Measure A — would violate state law.

In California, as long as voters show ID when they register to vote, they don't have to do it again at the polls.

State Sen. Dave Min has also introduced legislation to clarify that cities cannot implement their own voter ID measures separate from the state.

Measure A also faces a legal challenge from Mark Bixby, a former Huntington Beach planning commissioner. Bixby told LAist he plans to continue fighting implementation of the voter ID measure. "I still remain firmly opposed to voter ID," Bixby said, "and so I'm expecting the fight will continue."

The city is, in essence, already implementing Measure B, which restricts flying flags from city flagpoles to only government flags, the POW-MIA flag, and the Olympic flag during the summer games. Last year, the city council rescinded an earlier council's decision to fly the rainbow Pride flag each spring and replaced it with restrictions similar to Measure B.

Measure B puts the restrictions in the city's charter, and allows other flags to be flown only by a unanimous vote from the city council.

Measure C, which would implement a two-year budget and change the way city council vacancies are filled, still appears to be headed for a loss.

Measure C

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Measure C is an in-the-weeds initiative that would guide the inner workings of the city government. For example, Measure C would allow the mayor or a majority of city council members to cancel a city council meeting. It also specifies that at least one city council meeting must be held each month. Currently, the city's charter requires the council to hold meetings twice a month.

The measure would change the rules for filling city council vacancies, and require the city to adopt a two-year, or biennial, budget. Supporters say adopting a two-year budget cycle would give city departments greater stability and allow for longer-term planning.

A note on the results

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A court hearing for Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price got underway Tuesday, with a focus on allegations Price was married to another woman when he collected city health insurance benefits for his wife — which prosecutors say amounted to embezzlement of city funds.

In addition to facing five counts of grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, Price faces four counts of conflict of interest related to votes he took on projects connected to his wife’s business and three counts of perjury by declaration related to allegations he failed to disclose financial interests related to his wife’s business.

Price has pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court. At the end of the preliminary hearing, which is expected to run several days, a judge will be asked to determine whether there’s enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 11 years behind bars.

On Tuesday, prosecutors called an analyst with the city’s Personnel Department to testify and presented him with documents that showed Price placed his current wife Del Richardson on his city-issued healthcare plan from 2013 to 2017, before they were legally married.

Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins then showed the analyst a 1981 marriage certificate showing Price’s marriage to Suzette Price. The analyst said his office never saw the certificate.

“We most likely would have asked questions,” said Paul Makowski, chief benefits analyst with the city’s Personnel Department.

Prosecutors say Price bilked the city out of tens of thousands of dollars in health benefits for Richardson.

Price has said he thought he was divorced from his wife when he signed Richardson up for the benefit. He and Suzette Price had been separated since 2002. His attorney Michael Schafler noted Price never sought benefits for both women at the same time.

Prosecutors say the conflict of interest and perjury charges relate to Price failing to recuse himself from votes on projects that benefited his wife’s business, which provides relocation services and community engagement on big projects.

For example, the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles paid Richardson & Associates more than $600,000 over two years from 2019 to 2020. During that same time, Price voted to support a $35 million federal grant and a state grant application for $252 million for the agency, according to prosecutors.

In addition, LA Metro paid Richardson & Associates about $219,000 over two years from 2020 to 2021. Prosecutors say during that time, Price introduced and voted for a motion to award $30 million to Metro.

Price’s staff allegedly alerted Price about both transactions as potential conflicts of interest, according to prosecutors.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last six days.

Los Angeles officials gathered Tuesday for a media event to launch the county’s newest department. The new entity faces a daunting mandate: solve the region’s deeply entrenched homelessness crisis.

The new L.A. County Homeless Services and Housing department takes the mantle from the embattled regional L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, which until now has overseen the funding and administration of homeless services across a county where more than 72,000 people experience homelessness on any given night.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said transferring responsibilities from LAHSA — a joint powers authority created in 1993 by the city and county of L.A. — to one centralized agency will reduce finger-pointing.

“For a long time, it is LAHSA blames the county, the county blames the city, the city blames LAHSA — we all blame each other,” Barger said. “Accountability now ends with the [Board of Supervisors]. ... The buck is going to stop with us.”

Department launches as volunteers count LA’s unhoused 

The launch coincided with the first day of the region’s homeless count, which is still being overseen by LAHSA. Last year, the county decided to pull hundreds of millions of dollars from LAHSA and entrust that annual funding to the new county department.

The decision came shortly after a series of audits uncovered spending and oversight problems at the agency. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said she hoped reducing LAHSA’s responsibilities would help the agency better execute its core duties, such as the annual homeless count.

“Now that the focus and scope of what they're doing has been narrowed, hopefully that's where they've been focusing their time, effort and energy,” Horvath said.

Sarah Mahin (center) speaks about the launch of the new county homelessness department she will direct. Standing behind her are L.A. County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath.

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Revenue for the new department comes from Measure A, the half-cent sales tax voters opted to double from the previous quarter-cent tax in November 2024.

Why sales taxes are up, but overall revenue is down

Despite the increased sales tax revenue, officials say overall funding is down because of federal and state funding losses, plus allocations of sales tax revenue to a separate entity, the L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency.

The county’s new homelessness department has a $635 million draft spending plan. It comes with proposed cuts of more than 25% to homeless services.

“Cuts are painful for everyone, but we are making thoughtful and responsible decisions,” said Sarah Mahin, the new county department’s director. “We are prioritizing the most vulnerable people and the programs that we know work. And we're actively working with our partners to secure other funding and solutions to fill gaps.”

One program that will see cuts is Pathway Home, which clears encampments and offers residents spots in interim housing. Mahin said spending on the motels that serve as that interim housing will go down, dropping the number of annual encampment clearances involving motels from 30 to 10.

The hearing: At the corner of Wilkins and Kelton avenues, Hale told reporters that his hearing Tuesday lasted just about 10 minutes. According to Hale, the statute of limitations for his charges remains open until Dec. 7, a year after the street safety activist was arrested. “So they can change their mind, and I do risk arrest if I do this again,” Hale said. The hearing had been rescheduled from its original date of Jan. 5.

The crosswalks: Police arrested Hale as he and a group of volunteers, known as People's Vision Zero, were painting the third of four crosswalk legs at the Westwood intersection. As of Tuesday, the city has not repainted, eliminated or finished the crosswalks at the intersection.

One of the four crosswalks at the Westwood intersection where Hale was arrested remains unfinished. Two legs of the crosswalk were completed by Hale and his group before the L.A. police arrested the street safety activist.

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Jonathan Hale

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What’s next: Hale said People’s Vision Zero would continue painting crosswalks if the city does not take concrete steps toward its goal of ending traffic deaths. One way Hale said the city could make progress is by working with his group to create a community-led initiative to paint code-compliant crosswalks.

Dig deeper … into the background on Hale’s arrest.