Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
There are ten million people in LA County and all of them are represented by the 5 elected officials who make up the board of supervisors.
Some say there aren't enough supervisors to represent that many people and others add that the large districts make it harder for people of color to win election to the board.
State Senator Tony Mendoza is making a case for increasing the number of supervisors on county boards so that each official would represent no more than 1.4 million people per district.
To accomplish this, he's purposing an amendment to the state constitution. But for an amendment to be officially adopted, it must first pass through the state legislature, and then approved by voters on a state-wide ballot.
For us in Los Angeles County, that would mean adding two new districts and two new seats to board of supervisors.
Opponents like LA Supervisor Sheila Kuehl argue that local issues shouldn't be left up to voters outside of Los Angeles, and should only be determined by those directly affected by those issues.
Senator Mendoza spoke with Take Two's A Martinez and explained why he wants to increase representation for California counties.