For years, advocates for a more democratic Los Angeles have called for expanding the size of the City Council beyond the current 15 members.
The idea gained momentum in 2022, after the release of secretly recorded audio that came to be known as the City Hall tapes scandal. Two former and one current member of the council were caught engaging in a conversation that included racist and derogatory remarks.
Many proponents of council expansion hoped it would be placed on the November ballot, while the fervor for reform remained strong.
That’s not going to happen.
Council President Paul Krekorian, who created an Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Reform and promised to take up the issue, said last week that he plans to refer the idea of expanding the size of the panel to a yet-to-be-created charter commission.
The move would indefinitely delay any plan to increase the size of what many believe to be a council too small to represent a sprawling city of nearly 4 million people.
Advocates of the idea said increasing the size of the 15-member City Council would make the panel better reflect the diversity of L.A. and allow residents more access to council members. They pointed to New York, with its 51 council members and Chicago with 50.
The size of the L.A. council has remained the same for 100 years, even as the city has grown dramatically.
The ad hoc committee has had a year-and-a-half to consider the idea.
“This ongoing discussion will require more public input and analysis than can be completed in time for the November ballot,” Krekorian said in a statement to LAist.
The council would have had to act by early July to place any measure on the ballot.
Supporters of council expansion expressed disappointment at the delay.
“It's frustrating to see it get punted,” said David Levitus, who heads LA Forward, a group that works on strengthening democracy.
He cited a poll that showed two-thirds of Angelenos supported expansion, a possible shift in voter sentiment. In past decades, L.A. voters have turned down proposals on three previous occasions to increase the council size.
Jeremy Payne of Catalyst California, which advocates for racial justice, said the time was ripe for expansion.
“We are at a pivotal point following the audio leak, and I want to make sure we seize the opportunity for change,” he said in an interview. “Our council districts are too large for residents to feel truly represented.”
L.A. City Council members represent about 265,000 residents each, the largest local council districts in the country. In New York, each council member represents about 173,000 residents. In Chicago, council members are called aldermen and represent about 55,000 residents each.
Krekorian said he supports expanding the council to 23 members “in order to create greater responsiveness, more potential for inclusiveness, and reduced influence of political campaign funds.”
He has touted progress on other reforms in the wake of the tapes scandal, which involved three members of the City Council and a labor leader secretly discussing how to redraw the council’s district boundaries to maintain their own power. The conversation led to the resignations of Council President Nury Martinez and the head of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, Ron Herrera. Former Councilmember Gil Cedillo was voted out of office before the tapes were released.
The only participant in the conversation to have survived the scandal was Councilmember Kevin de León, who faces reelection in November. Earlier this month, Krekorian reinstated De León to his committee assignments after removing him in the wake of the scandal.
To address the type of backroom dealing that played out on the audio tapes, the council has placed on the November ballot a measure that would create an independent redistricting commission to draw City Council district boundaries, taking the decision out of the hands of the council itself.
Council members have been split on whether to increase the size of the government body, which would dilute their individual power.
“I’m just not convinced that more politicians makes for better government,” said Councilmember Traci Park, who represents an area that stretches from Venice to Brentwood.
“I have yet to see any evidence that constituents in city’s with larger councils are any more satisfied with their local elected representatives than our constituents in Los Angeles are with us,” she said.
She argued a bigger budget for her council office would help her improve services to constituents.
Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who represents the western San Fernando Valley, said of expansion: “You may have less ability to come to compromises.”
Still, he supports adding council members “to have more diversity.”
Levitus of LA Forward suspects opposition is more likely tied to the change in power council expansion would produce. “Expanding the council is going to mean each individual council member is less powerful and the council as a whole is less powerful in relation to the mayor,” he said.
Levitus’ group favors increasing the size of the council to 29.
He said “we need the threat that voters will do this themselves,” by gathering signatures to place a measure on the ballot.
The L.A. Governance Reform Project, a group of leading local scholars, has urged the council to place on the ballot a measure to expand its size and another that would increase the number of school board members at the L.A. Unified School District.
In a December report titled “Toward a Better Governed City of Los Angeles,” the group said the council should increase to 25 members, with 20 members elected by districts and five elected from regional seats that are larger than individual council seats.
It also recommended increasing the size of the LAUSD board from seven to 11 members.
Both would require changes to the city charter, which require a vote of the people.
Last week, the council asked the city attorney to draw up language for an ordinance that would create a charter reform commission, which the council president said was “the most appropriate place” to continue the discussion about expansion..
Krekorian has said new the commission would be able to ask the City Council to place both council and school board expansion on the ballot in 2026.
The ultimate decision for placing a measure on the ballot falls with the City Council.
“A Charter amendment for expanding the Council drafted by such a commission, rather than the Council itself, might well attract more public support, and I believe that approach now offers the best chance for achieving this important goal," he added.
The council also voted last week to place a series of ethics reforms on the ballot, including one that would triple the fines the Ethics Commission could impose on council members and others who violate city ethics rules, including campaign finance laws.
