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3w ago

Los Angeles Council Sends Measure to Voters to Cut Required Full Meeting Days

The unanimous council vote places a November ballot question that could let full council sessions occur as little as once a week, raising questions about public oversight during slow disaster recovery.

Collage of two inset photos of a burning building and a homeless encampment, with a main image of a woman speaking at a city council meeting.
An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows City Council member Eunisses Hernandez speaking at a council meeting, Image 2 shows Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky at a special meeting of the budget and finance committee, Image 3 shows People sitting near a "MacArthur Park Welcomes You" sign, with a shopping cart full of belongings next to them
An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Graffiti on a construction site fence in Pacific Palisades reads "Fire Mayor Bass" and "They Let Us Burn", Image 2 shows A wildfire ravages a neighborhood as sparks and embers fly through the air, and palm trees burn under high winds

Overview

  • The City Council voted unanimously to place a charter amendment on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot that would remove the rule requiring at least three regular full council meeting days per week and allow the council to meet as few as one day weekly.
  • Supporters say the change would modernize operations by matching practices in other large jurisdictions and by shifting work to committees or longer single sessions without changing council pay.
  • Critics argue fewer mandatory full meetings would reduce transparency and public input on big decisions such as budgets, homelessness policy, housing projects, police funding, and permitting for disaster recovery.
  • Commentators have focused on optics, noting council base pay reported around $245,000 and sizable office budgets, and they say the proposal looks poorly timed given slow Palisades Fire rebuilding, large unhoused counts, and visible open-drug markets.
  • If voters approve the amendment on Nov. 3, the council could change how it schedules public business, which could speed some internal processes but also shift more decision-making into committees and away from frequent full public sessions.