Commission recommends expanding LA City Council , switching to ranked-choice voting system

A city commission on Thursday recommended increasing the size of the Los Angeles City Council from 15 to 25, a change long sought after by advocates who said the panel was too small for a city of nearly 4 million people.

The Charter Reform Commission also recommended moving to a ranked-choice voting system for city elections, a method in which voters choose multiple candidates in order of their preference. If no candidate wins a majority of votes, then the last-place finisher is eliminated and their supporters' second choice is counted.

Each of those moves would require changing the city’s charter, the basic set of rules and procedures by which the city operates. And any change to the charter would require voter approval.

The recommendations will go to the City Council, which will decide whether to place the proposals on the June ballot.

Born out of corruption

The commission has been meeting for six months to take input from the public and to consider charter changes. It was created in the wake of the 2022 City Hall tapes scandal, where members of the council were heard on audio discussing how to hold onto power. The conversation was laced with crude and racist remarks, triggering calls for resignation and reforms.

Council President Nury Martinez resigned.

Expanding the size of the council has been suggested as one way to help guard against corruption in local government. Supporters say making the council larger would make it better reflect the diversity of L.A.

The idea is “to have a city council that is bigger, more representative of Los Angeles and gives minorities across the city [power] to elect candidates of choice,” Commissioner Diego Andrades said at the meeting.

Several other major cities have far larger councils. New York, with 8 million people, has a 51-member City Council. Chicago, with 2.7 million residents, has a 50-member council.

The current size of the Los Angeles City Council was established nearly a century ago, when Angelenos approved the 1924 Charter. At the time, each of the 15 council members represented on average a little more than 38,000 residents.

Today, the city has grown to more than 3.9 million residents, with each councilmember now representing on average 265,000 Angelenos, according to Fair Rep LA, an advocacy group.

Increasing the size of the L.A. council to 25 would mean each member would represent 159,000 residents each.

Commissioners debated increasing the size to 29, but voted down that number amid concerns the voters would reject it as too high.

A new way of voting

The committee made several other reform recommendations during a five-hour meeting Thursday evening. The panel recommended that the city change the way it conducts elections, moving to a ranked-choice voting system for city elections starting in 2032.

With ranked-choice voting, if a candidate receives more than half of the first choices, that candidate wins outright — just like in any other election.

But if there is no majority winner after counting the first choices, the race is decided by an instant runoff. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and candidates who ranked that candidate as their first choice will have their votes counted for their second choice. The process continues until one candidate has a majority of the vote.

New York conducts ranked-choice elections.

“The Charter Commission took a big step in empowering Los Angeles voters,” said Michael Feinstein, a former mayor of Santa Monica and a Green Party candidate for secretary of state.

“Ranked-choice voting allows voters to express their preferences over more than one candidate, it gets rid of the spoiler issue and gives voters a much greater voice,” he said. It also saves money because the city is required to conduct one election instead of a primary and runoff elections.

The commission also recommended the city create a chief financial officer position to replace the chief administrative officer position.

City Controller Kenneth Mejia disagreed with the recommendation, saying the CFO role should be placed in his office.

The panel also voted against giving the controller the ability to hire outside counsel and turned down Mejia’s request that the controller be able to conduct audits of all city programs, including those under elected offices.

The commission voted to recommend giving the controller a fixed budget that is a percentage of the general fund. It also agreed to recommend enshrining in the charter the controller’s waste fraud and abuse functions — something that was requested by Mejia.

Earlier this week, the panel approved bifurcating the City Attorney’s Office, creating an anti-corruption office and doubling the charter-mandated amount of funds set aside for the city parks.