It’s axiomatic that establishments, whether or not governmental, educational, philanthropic or company, hardly ever reform themselves.
Universally, if systemic change happens, it tends to come back from exterior the present construction for one overriding cause: Those that wield authority throughout the establishment don’t need to danger having their powers diluted or eradicated.
California’s current historical past gives a number of cogent examples of the syndrome, together with the imposition of time period limits on legislators and different state officers, the shift to a top-two major election system and transferring the decennial shuffling of legislative and congressional district boundaries from the Legislature to an unbiased fee.
That mentioned, what’s taking place in Los Angeles County could possibly be an historic exception.
Three of the county’s 5 supervisors have voted, not less than thus far, to position a measure on the November poll that would radically overhaul the county’s governance. They need to broaden its Board of Supervisors from 5 members to 9 and, much more dramatically, erode the board’s powers by creating an elected county govt — in impact, a county mayor.
Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn first proposed the overhaul earlier this month and later gained assist from Supervisor Hilda Solis. They acted regardless of opposition from the remaining two supervisors, Kathryn Barger and Holly Mitchell.
“We can no longer let a dated bureaucracy prevent us from more effectively addressing our homelessness crisis, making real progress on justice reform, or actualizing a government where Angelenos can meaningfully be at the decision-making table,” Horvath and Hahn mentioned as they first aired their measure.
Mitchell and Barger didn’t oppose the overhaul straight, however complained that it was being rushed via with out enough examine.
“Something this significant and historic shouldn’t be entered with the comment ‘It’s not perfect,’” Barger mentioned when the proposal was unveiled. “We have an obligation to our voters to make sure when we do this, we do it right.”
The board should take another vote earlier than the measure makes the poll, however assuming it does, will probably be ninth time that the massive county’s voters will take into account increasing the board. Most lately, in 2000, 64% of voters rejected rising the board to 9 members.
Aside from the mixed metropolis and county of San Francisco, California’s counties have lengthy been ruled by 5 elected supervisors, who wield each legislative and govt powers. It really works moderately properly in smaller counties, together with Alpine, for instance, which has about 1,200 residents, however doesn’t in massive city counties corresponding to Los Angeles, which has 10 million individuals — greater than most states.
Every Los Angeles supervisor has about 2 million constituents, which suggests their campaigns gather and spend thousands and thousands of {dollars} and solely main curiosity teams can play the sport. Board seats are so coveted that politicians will even quit seats in Congress in hopes of turning into one of many 5.
Increasing the board could be a step in the direction of making the board extra reflective of the county’s immense variety. However the second reform, having an elected county govt, is an much more basic change.
Having all authority vested in a five-member board makes decisive motion tougher than it needs to be and undercuts accountability. Voters don’t know who in charge when failures happen, and even who to credit score when good issues occur.
Given the dimensions of the county, an elected county govt arguably would maintain California’s second-most highly effective workplace, eclipsed solely by the governor, and it will be a pure stepping stone into the governorship.
Even when authorised by voters, the systemic overhaul of Los Angeles County authorities wouldn’t take impact instantly. It might be phased in and turn into absolutely operational after the 2030 census.
