City Council votes to put three‑term option on ballot; narrows measures after debate over scope and cost

The Los Angeles City Council voted to advance a measure placing a three‑term (12-year) option for elected office on a future ballot, after extended discussion about whether to include only council members or all citywide elected officials and how to treat partial terms and retroactivity.

Councilmember Misikowski (referred to in the record as the sponsor of the 3-term option) moved to limit the council’s submission to a three-term, 12-year lifetime cap consistent with prior charter language. The measure approved by the council removes the word “consecutive,” applies the limit as a lifetime cap, and retains the long-standing partial-term rule (partial terms of less than half a full term do not count toward the limit). The council voted to note and file the other two competing proposals (a repeal of term limits and a four‑term option), placing the three-term option before voters while not advancing the other proposals at this time.

Council members debated several issues before the vote: the civic and administrative impact of term limits on project completion timelines; fairness and consistency across offices (whether the mayor, controller and city attorney should be included); the cost of placing measures on the ballot; and the mechanics that would govern retroactivity (whether prior service counts toward the new cap). City staff and the city attorney advised the council that wording should clarify the retroactivity and partial-term rules, and that staff would include the chosen retroactivity approach on the face of the measure to avoid later confusion.

Key procedural outcomes and clarifications from the meeting record: - The council approved a motion to adopt a three-term option (totaling 12 years) and to note-and-file the competing measures; the vote on that motion was recorded as 9 ayes, 3 noes. (Miskowski/Weiss motion.) - Council debated whether the three-term option should apply only to councilmembers or to all citywide elected officials; a later roll-call on limiting the measure to councilmembers failed (5 ayes, 7 noes). The council subsequently reaffirmed the earlier change to apply the measure citywide (vote recorded 10 ayes, 2 noes on reaffirmation). Staff will return with revised measure text that incorporates the council’s amendments including lifetime language and partial-term rules. - Cost: the city clerk’s office estimated roughly $1.7 million to place a single measure on the county ballot, with approximately $200,000 for each additional measure; the clerk estimated approximately $2.1 million for placing three measures. Council members cited ballot cost in arguments for reducing the number of separate measures placed before voters. - Partial terms: the city’s existing rule that partial terms of less than one-half a full term do not count toward the limit was retained in discussion and in the draft motions. The council instructed staff to include an explicit statement on the retroactivity (how prior service counts) in the measure text returned to council.

The council directed the city attorney and staff to prepare final charter amendment language reflecting the council’s decisions and to return for placement on an upcoming ballot after conforming edits. Several council members urged prudence and recommended using the March election cycle as an opportunity to see related county/state measures and to reduce incremental election costs.