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Council advances municipal disclosure rules after earlier emergency ordinance; first‑reading vote carries to next week
Summary
Councilmembers approved a first‑reading municipal code amendment to require disclosure of member communications and certain expenditures; the ordinance was originally adopted as a time‑limited emergency measure and now seeks permanent placement in the municipal code. The ordinance will take effect 30 days after publication if adopted.
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday advanced a municipal code amendment aimed at improving disclosure by organizations and entities that send communications urging votes in city elections.
Council President Laura Chick and the city attorney's office led the effort to convert short‑term emergency ordinances adopted earlier this spring into a permanent municipal‑code rule. The code change would require organizations that send membership or employee communications urging a vote to notify the Ethics Commission when they spend specified amounts and, for major communications, file a campaign‑style statement seven days before an election.
City attorney staff explained that state law and recent changes had created a disclosure gap: some membership or employer communications that would previously have been treated as independent expenditures are not disclosable under current state rules. The code change aims to ensure the public and the city’s public‑matching program receive timely notice of large independent expenditures or election‑related communications.
City attorney counsel Alperin told the council the ordinances adopted in May covered the April and June elections, but only as temporary measures. The proposed municipal code amendment would make the disclosure requirements permanent; if adopted it would become effective 30 days after publication. Councilmembers discussed additional potential tightening of disclosure windows and asked the Ethics Commission to consider expanded reporting to close other loopholes.
The item passed an initial, first‑reading vote 11–0 in the special meeting; as a first‑reading ordinance it will carry over to the next week for final action. Several councilmembers said the measure is a step forward but does not go far enough in preventing large sums of party or interest money from being routed into municipal races without earlier public reporting.
