What’s next after LA homeless officials withheld public records on $800K in whistleblower payouts?

A lot has been happening with the agency that manages homelessness funding for L.A. city and county.

One of the latest controversies is over public records about alleged wrongdoing at the L.A. Homeless Services Authority.

As LAist revealed earlier, LAHSA leaders and their attorneys at the County Counsel’s Office have repeatedly refused to release public records about allegations of high-level wrongdoing — including whistleblower retaliation — that led to $800,000 in taxpayer-funded payouts to settle the claims.

Legal experts told LAist the documents are being unlawfully withheld.

Courts have repeatedly ruled these types of records must be disclosed to the public under the California Public Records Act, according to David Loy, a public records attorney at the First Amendment Coalition.

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, Loy said.

The records “clearly should be available to the public,” he added.

LAHSA argues that several exemptions allow it to withhold the whistleblower retaliation claims Kristina Dixon and Emily Vaughn Henry submitted to LAHSA after they were fired — including attorney-client privilege.

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

Dan Kim and Alyssa Skolnick, the attorneys representing LAHSA in refusing to release the records, work under the county’s top attorney Dawyn Harrison. They have not responded to Loy’s point-by-point explanation more than a week ago of why he believes they’re unlawfully withholding the records.

So…what does the law say, and what could happen next?

Courts have said the public is entitled to see these types of records

California laws, including the state Constitution, protect the public’s right to get copies of government documents.

Those laws include the Brown Act, which requires officials to disclose legal claims and communications threatening litigation against their agency — like the records LAHSA has been withholding.

The courts have been clear that legal claims, like the ones LAist requested, have to be disclosed to the public upon request, Loy said. He pointed to cases like an appellate court ruling against Poway Unified School District, which found that exemptions like attorney-client privilege do not apply to legal claims.

Legal claims are usually disclosed by local governments without any issue.

In fact, LAHSA itself says it has disclosed all other legal claims to LAist — except the ones over whistleblower retaliation filed by Dixon and Vaughn Henry.

How could the documents get released?

One way is LAHSA’s attorneys could change course and disclose them. But that seems unlikely, particularly after LAist’s repeated requests for disclosure.

Another way is if someone sues and a judge ends up ordering LAHSA to release the records. But such rulings can take months to reach, and can rack up attorney fees that are ultimately paid for by taxpayers.

Yet another way is that a majority of LAHSA’s governing commission could vote to override the attorneys and release the records. The Santa Ana City Council did that years ago with a report about alleged wrongdoing that the city attorney had withheld.

Half the 10-member LAHSA Commission is governed by Mayor Karen Bass and the people she appoints. The other half is governed by people appointed by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

The commission can hold a special meeting for a vote as quickly as 24 hours after public notification.

Where does the commission stand?

That’s unclear.

LAist reached out to spokespeople for Bass and the five county supervisors, requesting comment from them and the LAHSA commissioners they appointed. They either didn’t respond, or declined to comment.

LAist has tried reaching out to the commissioners directly, using email addresses LAHSA staff provided. But most of those emails bounced back saying messages could not be delivered.

The email account LAHSA staff provided for Bass appears to be an old mayoral account that hasn’t been active for years.

LAHSA falsely said the records were released — then said otherwise

One of LAHSA attorneys, Skolnick, told LAist on Wednesday morning that she was disclosing the records for the two claims LAist asked for. A LAHSA official later said that the records had indeed been disclosed.

But they were not. And after repeated follow ups, Skolnick eventually said the claims will not be released.

Her supervisor, Katherine Bowser, later stood by the refusal to release the records, while declining to respond to Loy’s specific points about the law.