Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here and those that are watching us today. Before we officially begin today's meeting, we will have the pledge, invocation, and a special presentation recognizing the LA County Fair. But I wanna tell you, the public, that due to traffic delays, we will be officially convening at 10:15 to officiate and commence our board meeting when we have a quorum. So at this time, I am pleased then to start with our invocation.

And today we have our invocation led by Reverend Doctor. Mandy Sloan McDowell. She is the senior minister representing Los Angeles First United Methodist Church from the 1st District, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance which will be led by Joanna R. McFadden, former captain United States Army representing the 2nd District. So if all are available, please stand with us now. Thank you.

Good morning everyone. I invite you just to take a deep breath in. You've had a long and busy morning already. And nice exhale out. I also teach yoga.

Take another deep breath in. And as we breathe out, let us invite the spirit of the city of angels to guide us. Holy gracious and loving God, we give you thanks for this beautiful day, for this morning, for this opportunity that we can be your people. Today, we hold in our mind, in the forefront of our heart, those whom you have asked us to guide, to govern, to care for, to represent. We ask that you bring to us the face of constituent, a family working through the foster care system, a worker concerned about the future of his business, a youth struggling through homelessness, choosing the cheapest and most lethal form of health care.

You have given to us so many, those who are battling to rebuild their homes after devastating fires in our communities, those who are working against us, not for the good of all, but for fear of their own power. So help us to hold tightly to what matters, the care, the grace, the mercy, the compassion, and help us to let go of all that does not serve us. That we have no power except what you have given us as people to be a community together to be representatives of this marvelous city that is rich in history. Our ancestors are here to guide us. Those who have come before us look down and smile.

So help us to represent them in this beautiful, diverse, gorgeous network that is the City Of Angels, a county wide from sea to mountain. Let the spirit of compassion and courage of those like Biddy Mason be our guide. We ask your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness on this and every day. Amen. Amen.

Good morning. Please face the flag, place your right hand over your heart, and if you're a veteran, you may render a hand salute and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

So thank you Reverend Doctor. Mandy Sloan McDowell for leading us this morning with this special invocation. The Reverend Doctor. McDowell serves as the senior minister of the Los Angeles First United Methodist Church in Downtown Los Angeles where she leads with deep compassion, as you can tell, conviction and a steadfast commitment to community care and social justice. Under her leadership, the church continues its long standing mission of service including a weekly breakfast ministry that provides hot meals to individuals experiencing homelessness and food insecurity.

An effort that reflects both dignity and solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors. She has also been a dedicated and enduring advocate for the LGBTQ community, standing for equal rights and marriage equality throughout her ministry. As part of the reconciling ministries network, her congregation remains committed to welcoming, uplifting and advocating for those who have been marginalized. This inclusive ministry embodies their understanding of the teachings of Jesus centered in love, justice and belonging for all. We are honored to have her, Doctor McDowell with us today.

Grateful for her presence, her leadership and the spirit of compassion she brings to the County Of Los Angeles and all of our communities. We thank you today, Reverend, for offering this invocation to all of us. And on behalf of the entire Board of Supervisors, we'd like to recognize you with this County Of Los Angeles Certificate of Appreciation. Supervisor Mitchell.

Good morning Los Angeles. I'm a try that one more time. Come on now. Good morning Los Angeles.

Good morning.

Hey, that's what I'm talking about. Thank you and thank you all for joining us today. It's my honor to introduce today's pledge veteran, Joanna McFadden. Captain McFadden has dedicated twenty nine years to the United States Army where she currently serves as a human resources officer. She was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Throughout her military career she has earned numerous awards including the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Non Commissioned Officer Professional Development ribbon, and recognition as the SoCal Woman Veteran of the Year. For the past six years Captain McFadden has also served as my appointee to the LA County Veterans Advisory Commission where she helps to shape policies that better serve our veterans and their families. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Loyola Marymount University. In addition to her military service, Captain McFadden is the founder of Menarchery. Menarchery, a consulting that partners with veterans and organizations to strengthen their capacity and drive meaningful lasting change.

She is a proud member of the American Legion and auxiliary, the Jackie Robinson unit number two fifty two color guard. The National Association of black military women and delta sigma theta sorority incorporated. In her free time she enjoys hiking and traveling the world. So please LA join me in expressing our deeper gratitude for her service to our nation and to our county to captain McFadden for her service and for leading us in today's pledge of allegiance. We thank you.

Appreciate you always.

Thank you Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Very good. With that, before we begin our special presentation recognizing the LA County Fair, let's play the land acknowledgement. Eo, thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention. The meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is about to commence. A code of conduct will now be read and we request that you comply with it to ensure the efficient administration of the meeting. Members of the public, it is your right to participate in today's board hearing and the board encourages such participation. However, the right of the public to address the board must be balanced with the need to ensure that public comment does not interfere with the orderly course of the Board's business.

All are reminded to abide by the following rules. Speakers must cease speaking immediately when their time has ended. Public comment on agenda items must relate to the subject matter of that item. General public comment is limited to subjects within the jurisdiction of the board. Public comment does not include the right to engage in a dialogue with board members or staff.

Please remain respectful of the forum and refrain from uttering, writing, or displaying profane, personal, threatening, derogatory, demeaning or other abusive statements toward the board, any member thereof, staff or any other person. Members of the audience should be respectful of the views expressed by speakers, staff and board members and may not clap, cheer, whistle or otherwise disrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting. Any person engaging in conduct that disrupts the meeting is subject to being removed from the board meeting. And finally, if you witness conduct or behavior by other members of the public that disrupts your ability to remain engaged or participate in this meeting, please notify the sergeant at arms or other county staff. Thank you for your cooperation.

We will now hear the land acknowledgement. The County Of Los Angeles recognizes that we occupy land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Quiche, and Chumash peoples. We honor and pay respect to their elders and descendants, past, present, and emerging, as they continue their stewardship of these lands and waters. We acknowledge that settler colonization resulted in land seizure, disease, subjugation, slavery, relocation, broken promises, genocide, and multigenerational trauma. This acknowledgment demonstrates our responsibility and commitment to truth, healing, and reconciliation, and to elevating the stories, culture, and community of the original inhabitants of Los Angeles County.

We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these ancestral lands. We are dedicated to growing and sustaining relationships with native peoples and local tribal governments, including in no particular order. Fernandeno Tataviam, band of mission Indians Gabriolino Tongva, Indians of California tribal council Gabrioleno, Tongva, San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, Gabrioleno, Band of Mission Indians, Quiche Nation, Yahaviyatam of San Manuel Nation, San Fernando Band of Mission Indians, Coastal Band of Chumash Nation, Gabrielino Tongva Nation, Gabrielino Tongva tribe. To learn more about the First Peoples of Los Angeles County, please visit the Los Angeles City County Native American Indian Commission website at lanaic.lacounty.gov.

Madam chair, just wanna make some clarifications. I apologize. We started code of conduct presentation, but we really need to make sure that for the record that we're starting the meeting at 10:15 and that we're gonna move forward with presentations now.

All right. Okay, well, we're going to get started I think for this special presentation here which I have happened to enjoy almost every year that I've been here. And this is one of the most exciting times and I know supervisor Mitchell feels just as excited as I do. Colleagues and public, please join me today in welcoming Thummer, the pig, the LA County fair mascot. Along with us today is Walter Marquez, our CEO of the Fairplex.

Please welcome him here today. And Mike Drebe, who is chair of the Fairplex board. Also, thank you for joining us today. The LA County Fair proudly hosted in the first district at the Fairplex in Pomona is a cherished tradition that has brought communities together for more than a century. Can you believe that?

From its agricultural roots to its evolution as one of the nation's largest fairs, it continues to serve as a vibrant place bringing together residents and visitors alike. In 2026, this year the fair will run through May 7 through May 31 under the theme, Play Your Way. Highlighting creativity across visual arts, music, culinary innovation, and live performance. Through interactive exhibits and immersive experiences, the fair invites attendees to engage with both traditional and contemporary forms of expression. And at its core, play is about freedom.

The freedom to explore, create, and connect. Whether enjoying a ride, showcasing a handcrafted project, or experiencing live entertainment, the fair offers moments that spark curiosity and bring people together across generations. This year's fair will feature a dynamic mix of attractions including carnival rides, concerts, culinary show cases, agricultural exhibits, don't forget those little piggies, remember that? The figurines, And family friendly activities. These experiences celebrate the unique character of Los Angeles County while offering something for everybody.

The twentieth annual Los Angeles County Day at the fair will take place this Saturday, 05/09/2026, and will provide county employees an opportunity to engage with exhibits, connect with resources, and celebrate the communities that they serve. This special day highlights the fair's role in fostering connection and collaboration across the county. I invite everyone to come out and to be a part of this beautiful experience. There is truly something everyone at the LA County Fair. Now let's cue the promotional video for the LA County Fair. Please watch the video.

You ready for the fair? You ready for this?

What's this? Remember, I'm ready.

Look what I made.

Now one more time.

At the LA County Fair, there's no wrong way to play. Buy online and save big. Visit lacountyfair.com to learn more. Great.

Can't wait. And with that, it's my honor to present this scroll in recognition of the LA County Fair and its lasting impact on our community. And I'd like to present this to our guests here. Just a moment. Dumber, come and join us.

Okay, I'm joining supervisor.

Our CEO and Chairman Walter Marquez will now make a few remarks.

And before Walter says a few words, I want to offer a few remarks of my own. As the Chairman of the Board, my name is Mike Drebe. It's my pleasure to be here with you today. First of all, good morning, madam chair and board of supervisors. I want to thank each of you for your continued love and support of the LA County Fair.

The fair belongs to Los Angeles County. Every year we are proud to welcome residents from all across the region to Fairplex. As board chair, sorry. We have a very long and special history. We started in 1922, and this year, we're proud to celebrate our one hundred and fourth anniversary.

For more than a century, the fair has brought families, communities, businesses, artists, students, farmers, performers, and visitors together from across Los Angeles County. To put that in perspective, the Los Angeles County Fair has welcomed over 89,000,000 guests since its founding, an average about an average of about 850,000 guests per year. Now when you think about that number, I hope you think beyond attendance, but about the impact the Los Angeles County Fair has had on the community of Los Angeles County. Think about the jobs created, the small businesses supported, the hotel rooms booked, the vendors, the entertainers, the students, the community groups, and more importantly, the memories made year after year. The Los Angeles County Fair is more than just a seasonal event.

It is part of the cultural fabric of this county. It reflects who we are. Diverse, creative, hardworking, and always finding new ways to come together. This year's theme is play your way, and we hope every resident sees the fair as a place where they belong. So whether you come for the food, the animals, the rides, the art, the music, the competitions, or simply to spend time with family, there is something for everyone at the Los Angeles County Fair.

Thummer and I hope to see you on May 9 for LA County Day and throughout the fair season. And with a theme like play your way, I'll just say this. Whether you play it cool, play it loud, play it by eating your way through the fair, we welcome you to come and make the fair your own. And with that, I'd like to pass it over to our president and CEO, Walter Marquettes.

Thank you Mike. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Board of Supervisors. Let me just say the fair is an exciting time. May 7 through May 31. A lacountyfair.com is where you wanna go to get your tickets. May 9, if you type in LA County, it's LA County Day, you can get a ticket for $8 We have $10 value food ideals on Thursdays. Not this first Thursday is our opening day but the following Thursdays we have a food can drive. You bring five cans to the LA County fair between eleven and five and you're in for free. So, we've got great opportunities, great value. We've got the world's cutest dog show. We've got a pirate lagoon. We've got art. We've got music. We've got it all.

And, more importantly, we've got fun. So, if you've a hunger for deep fried anything, we've got it deep fried as well. We've got rides. The animals are there. Come out, make some incredible memories, bring some friends, bring your loved ones, and come enjoy the county fair with us.

Hey, good morning. I want to welcome everyone again to our regularly scheduled board meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Today is Tuesday, May 5, Cinco de Mayo. Please note that Supervisor Barger will be absent from our meeting today and Supervisor Horvath will be joining us later in the meeting. We take note that we do have a quorum of the board present. The chief executive office, the county council executive officer, and the sergeant at arms are all here to assist. Executive officer, will you please play the code of conduct? Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention. The meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is about to commence. A code of conduct will now be read and we request that you comply with it to ensure the efficient administration of the meeting. Members of the public, it is your right to participate in today's board hearing and the board encourages such participation. However, the right of the public to address the board must be balanced with the need to ensure that public comment does not interfere with the orderly course of the Board's business.

All are reminded to abide by the following rules. Speakers must cease speaking immediately when their time has ended. Public comment on agenda items must relate to the subject matter of that item. General public comment is limited to subjects within the jurisdiction of the Board. Public comment does not include the right to engage in a dialogue with board members or staff.

Please remain respectful of the forum and refrain from uttering, writing, or displaying profane, personal, threatening, derogatory, demeaning or other abusive statements toward the board, any member thereof, staff or any other person. Members of the audience should be respectful of the views expressed by speakers, staff, and board members and may not clap, cheer, whistle, or otherwise disrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting. Any person engaging in conduct that disrupts the meeting is subject to being removed from the board meeting. Meeting. And finally if you witness conduct or behavior by other members of the public that disrupts your ability to remain engaged or participate in this meeting please notify the sergeant at arms or other county staff.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Thank you. Executive office, please call the agenda.

Good morning madam chair, members of the board. Today's agenda will begin on page two, set matter one. On set matter one, this is a report by the interim chief executive officers and the director of personnel on the plan developed to support represented Los Angeles Housing Services Authority workers to access employment opportunities at county departments. On page three, consent calendar. Board of Supervisors items two through 37.

On item 12, supervisor Horvath requests that this item be held. On item 17, supervisor Han requests that this item be held. On items twenty five and twenty six, supervisor Mitchell requests that these items be taken up together. Also, these include revisions as indicated on the supplemental agenda. On item 27, this includes a revision as indicated on the supplemental agenda.

On item 28, this includes a revision as indicated on the supplemental agenda. On item 29, supervisor Horvath requests that this item be held. On item 31, supervisor Han requests that this item be held. On page 26, administrative matters, items 38 through 85. On item 38, supervisor Barger requests that this item be continued two weeks to 05/19/2026.

On item 49, supervisor Mitchell is recusing herself from the vote pursuant to government code section 84,308 because she received a contribution or contributions of more than $500 within the past twelve months from Angela Minifield who is party participant or agent of a party or participant in the proceeding. On page 50, oh no, I am sorry. On item 50, supervisor Horfath requests that this item be held. On page 53, ordinance for introduction, item 86. On page 54, separate matter, item 87.

On page 55, special district agendas. This is the agenda for the meeting of the Los Angeles County Development Authority, item one On page 57, notices of closed session, items CS1 through CS2. On item CS1, County Council requests that this item be continued one week to 05/12/2026. On CS2, the Interim Chief Executive officer requested this item be continued one week to 05/12/2026. The request for continuances through CS two are before you. That completes the reading of the agenda, madam chair.

Thank you. Moved visor Mitchell, seconded by Supervisor Han to approve these items. That will be the order. Today's meeting order will be the following. Public comments on items not held for discussion by the board, then item 17 followed by items twenty five and twenty six, which will be taken up together, then set matter one followed by items 31, twelve, twenty nine, and 50, and finishing with general public comment. Before we begin, executive officer, please read the call in information and explain the speaking rules.

Good morning members of the public. If you wish to participate in public comment, you may do so in person or remotely. To participate remotely, please visit our website at www.bos.lacounty.gov to register and join the meeting or you may call (213) 306-3065 and use the access code 25339736661 and meeting password 2672026. You will have the opportunity to address the board throughout the meeting. For items not held by the board, you will receive one minute for one item and up to two minutes for two or more items.

For items held by supervisors, you will have one minute to address the board, one minute to address the board on general public comment for a total of up to six minutes. When it is your turn to speak, if registered on a computer or a device, you will hear a beep and your name will be called. Or if joining by telephone, you will hear your line is unmuted, your area code and the first three digits of your phone number will be called. To ensure we hear from both in person and remote speakers, we will alternate between the two speaking queues. Members of the public who are in attendance, when you hear or see your name displayed on the screen, please come down to the front of the boardroom and staff will assist you.

Please do not approach the podium until directed to do so. Also, for members of the public in attendance, please note that we have a constituent assistance team that includes representatives from the departments of mental health, public social services, children and family services, LA Homeless Services Authority, and Parks and Recreation in the audience should you need assistance from them. At this time, we will hear from members of the public wishing to address the board on all items not held for discussion by supervisors. The consent items will be acted upon with one motion. For members of the public joining us remotely to comment on these items, please use the raise hand feature if you are online or press 3 if on a telephone.

Please indicate the agenda item numbers that you wish to address in the beginning of your comment for us to allocate the appropriate amount of time.

We will now call in in person speakers and while they're coming forward, we will take remote speakers. This will be for all items not held by the board for discussion. Discussion. Will the following individual please come forward and staff will assist you? Jessica Peral?

Madam Chair, there are no remote speakers who have signed up to speak on these items. That concludes remote participant actually, we do have a caller. Caller, your line is open. Please begin.

Hi there. Good morning. I'm on board chair, members of the board. My name is Jackie Emera with the California Restaurant Association. Speaking on item 25.

Item 25 is held. Ma'am item 25 is held. You can call back when that item is called.

Roy Humphreys your line is open. Please state the agenda items you're addressing and begin.

Items five through seventeen, twenty one, 23, 28. And items this board does not have the justifiable time for the frivolous proclamations five through 17. 17. You should be running this county for what it is, organized criminal enterprise in crisis, of which men's central, lasha, sex crimes in jails, probation are just a few. The four Democrat Democrat supervisors supervisors should should be be in in prison prison a a la la Leroy Leroy Baca and Tanaka.

'21, this county is up to its neck in crisis and should no longer be labeled crisis but business as usual. On '23, the water crisis, check the national map on drought. We are in crisis, and Karen Bass has yet to fill the reservoirs. State prison is a good option. 28, gender affirming care. Supervisors, leave those kids alone. 38, Men's Central Jail. Four Democrats should be in prison, a la Leroy Baca and Tanaka. Thank you.

Thank you. Caller with phone number 626, your line is open. Please state your name, the agenda items you're addressing, and begin.

Hi. Good morning. My name is I'm speaking on agenda item number 25.

Number 25 is being held. You can hold your comment when that item is called.

Caller with phone number 323359 your line is open. Please begin.

My name

is Anthony Corletto. I'm speaking on behalf of item number 34. I testified in support of supervisor Hahn's motion. LA County should oppose s b thirteen seventy three a state bill that would severely reduce eligibility for court supervisor mental health diversion programs. LA County is a leader in mental health diversion and its investments have made strides in better safe communities.

ODR housing is a nationally recognized model for mental health diversion shown to improve housing stability and reduce criminal justice involvement at all significantly lower cost than jail based mental health housing. California's rapid diversion program has served thousands of people through mental health diversion with ninety one percent of graduates avoiding new criminal cases as of April 2024. We should be expanding access diversion, not limiting it. If fewer people can access mental health diversion, there'll be more people in jail, worsening overcrowding, and a number of incarcerated people with mental health needs who are

Thank you. Madam chair, there are no other remote speakers to address the board. Remote participation for these items is now concluded. We will go to in person speakers. Please begin.

Good morning, my name is Jessica Peral. I'm here on behalf of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and we're here to speak in support of item 27, addressing the interstate funding formula which will severely impact our ability to provide services for LGBTQ adults who are facing increasing cost of living issues and we are increasingly facing cost of providing those services for them. Thank you to the board for addressing this matter.

Thank you.

Thank

My name is Gabriel Gutierrez. I'm here on behalf of the National Foster Youth Institute. I'm the LA policy and engagement manager. And we just wanted to express our support of the motions, items five and items 16. 16. We have a bunch of foster youth advocates that are here in person to understand and see the way that the Board of Supervisors meetings are happening and to be prepared as well for later on in the year. We just wanted to recognize the folks that are here and let you know that we're here in support of those two items.

Can they stand to be recognized, your guests? Yes. Thank you. All right.

Here Thank are you. All the Fox News here today. Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you. That concludes our time for public comment on these items.

Madam chair, we will return to take

a vote on these items later in the meeting. We will now move on to item 17, motion to proclaim and establish 05/07/2026 as County Day of Prayer throughout Los Angeles County, was held by Supervisor Han. For members of the public joining us remotely, to comment on this item, please use the raise hand feature if you're online or press 3 if on the telephone.

Great. Supervisor Han, you're recognized.

Thank you Madam Chair. Colleagues, this motion is to proclaim this Thursday, May 7, and every first Thursday of of May thereafter as Los Angeles County Day of Prayer. The idea for a County Day of Prayer was brought forward by one of our own County employees, Destiny Castro, who works in the CEO's office. And I think Destiny is hi, Destiny. Destiny is a mother and a woman of faith, and she thought it was time that LA County had a day of prayer.

And I wanna thank you, Destiny, for that suggestion. She's apparently been thinking about this for a long time and hoping that one day, her suggestion would become a reality. You know, when I served in congress, I was proud to serve as the co chair of the National Prayer Breakfast, which happens every February, and that prayer breakfast invites elected officials Washington to come together to pray for our country. And today, we're making that same invitation to our residents. My emotion aligns our County Day of Prayer with the National Day of Prayer, and the idea behind the National Day of Prayer is simple.

It encourages all Americans to pray for whatever is on their hearts that they think could make our country better. And there are some National Day of Prayer events that happen here in LA County. Our fire department has observed the National Day of Prayer for a few years, offering a space for our first responders to gather and support one another through prayer and reflection. And I know that the city of Los Angeles has hosted events on the occasion of the National Day of Prayer. Here on the dais, of course, we pray every Tuesday when we invite a faith leader to begin our board meeting with an invocation.

But I agree with Destiny that we should take that step one step further, and that's what this motion does. It proclaims a countywide day of prayer. Like the National Day of Prayer, this is about inviting our residents to pray for whatever is on their hearts that they think could make our county better.

And I

know what's on mine, and I'm reminded of the words of Pope Leo who recently, while speaking about leaders who put their own political and economic gains first, said, they turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education, and restoration are nowhere to be found. And I know that you know that there are so many people, in every one of our districts that depend on LA County for healing, for education, for restoration, and so much more. And you don't have to be religious to appreciate that message. So this day of prayer is an invitation to our employees from across our county family, and most importantly, to our residents to pause, to reflect, and pray for whatever is on your heart that you think might make your communities and our county better. And, again, thank you, Destiny, for this suggestion.

I hope my colleagues will support it and it will become an official day in the county. Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you so much. Supervisor Mitchell, you're recognized.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair and thank you Destiny and Supervisor Hahn. Throughout our shared history, our multi faith communities have been on the front line showing us the power of coming together in pursuit of justice and equity. And it's in times of uncertainty that I think that it's important that we prioritize and sustain the practices that center and unite us and prayer is one of those practices. Because of prayer, Sister Simone Campbell, a hero of mine, helped pioneer the first nuns on the bus tour back in 2012, traveling across the country to oppose cuts to social safety net programs to advocate for health access and encourage support for immigrant communities. During the Affordable Care Act debate, she drafted the nuns letter and organized 60 leaders of Catholic women's religious orders in support of the an effort President Obama later recognized as instrumental to its passage.

Because of prayer, Reverend Doctor William Barber orchestrated the Moral Mondays movement, mobilizing clergy, activists, workers, students, labor groups, and community members to challenge policies they believed harmed vulnerable people. Building on that momentum in 2017, he helped launch the Poor People's Campaign, a national call for a moral revival, carrying forward Doctor. King's 1968 vision through nonviolent protests and civil disobedience to address interconnected issues like economic inequality, racial injustice, healthcare, voting rights and environmental concerns while amplifying the voices of impacted communities. One of the greatest strengths of LA County is our diversity, our many beliefs, traditions, and ways of seeking meaning. And even with all that makes us different, prayer is a sacred and universal practice.

It connects us, it mobilizes us, and in moments like these, it strengthens and empowers us. That's why in March, my office hosted our monthly racial justice learning exchange and it focused on race and religion, bringing together more than 100 people from diverse faith backgrounds to pray and to hold space for one another. And we were able to see firsthand the power of coming together. And so as we recognize the County Day for Prayer, I ask that you pray for us, pray for one another, and pray for our county. And my prayer will be that we all rise with renewed strength and focus, ready to act, ready to serve, and ready to continue moving forward together.

Thank you, Supervisor Hahn, for today's motion I'll be supporting. Thank you.

I will be brief. I wanna congratulate you, Supervisor Hahn, and also to Destiny for bringing this, motion forward. It in times like this that we do need prayer, whether it's a special day or every day, and I'm reminded of that every single day when I get up in the morning. I think about all the folks that are undergoing different kind of pain and wanting to be healed or wanting to seek truth and wanting to seek justice. So I also, looking in the audience and I see our young people from the foster care community that are here who are strident and working hard and resilient, who also need our support and prayers and all of that that's needed in our county.

So I thank all of you, I thank our county. Our county has done so many good things, and I know when I'm out in the field and meeting with people, people are often telling me, Supervisor, please know that we're praying for all of you. All the board members. So for me, that's very personal and very touching because it tells me that people are connecting and we're connecting with them. So I will also be supporting this item. Thank you for bringing it forward, and thank you again, Destiny, for bringing this to our attention. Thank you. Okay, with that, do we have any remarks from the public?

Madam Chair, there are no in person or remote speakers who have signed up to speak on this item. That concludes the time for public comment on item 17.

Madam Chair, item 17 is before you.

Moved by Supervisor Hahn, seconded by Supervisor Mitchell to approve this item. Executive Officer, please call the roll.

Supervisor Mitchell? Aye. Supervisor Mitchell, aye. Supervisor Hahn? Aye. Supervisor Hahn, aye. Supervisor Solis?

Aye.

Supervisor Solis, aye. Motion carries three zero. We will now move on to item item 25, reclaiming wages for workers through worker centric approaches, and item 26, made in Los Angeles program pilot, harnessing Los Angeles County's purchasing power to support local manufacturing, which were held by Supervisor Mitchell. For members of the public joining us remotely to comment on these items, please use the raise hand feature if you are online or press 3 if on the telephone. Rafael Carbajal, Director of Consumer and Business Affairs and Michael Oh, Director of Internal Services are available for questions. For the departmental speakers, please state your name and title for the record when you address the board.

Thank you. Supervisor Mitchell, you're recognized on these two items.

Thank you. Thank you very much, madam chair, and thank you for allowing us to hold together. Last Friday, we saw one of the largest May Day marches in recent LA County history. Thousands of people joined in solidarity for workers' rights and dignity. That fight continues.

Workers today face immigration raids, rising costs driven by tariffs, and an economy that too often leaves them behind. LA County really has the opportunity, and I believe an obligation, to do all that we can to ensure that every worker is paid what they are are owed and has access to high quality careers close to home. Low wage workers in LA County lose an estimated 26 to 28,000,000 every single week to wage theft. That means missed rent, skipped meals and families push closer to the edge. These two motions take a dual approach.

One fixes how we enforce the law against predatory employers. The other uses the county's $8,000,000,000 in annual buying power to reward employers that are doing the right thing by their workers. Workers need and employers needs are not in opposition. Responsible employers are our partners in building an economy where Angelenos and workers can thrive. LA County is the wage theft capital, tragically, in our nation.

Wage theft happens through minimum wage violations, unpaid overtime, forcing work off the clock, or outright nonpayment, or cash into the table. I am proud to have authored the motion that established the Office of Labor Equity back in 2021 with then Supervisor Kuehl. But the reality is that a complaint based system is not a strategy, it's just a reaction. Waiting for workers to come forward means the most vulnerable workers, those most afraid of retaliation, are left out. This motion strengthens the office of labor equity by building a proactive coenforcement model in partnership with trusted worker centers and community based organizations.

Coenforcement is not a new concept. California Labor Commissioner has practiced it for decades alongside San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Chicago. We're directing strategic investigations to focus on the most egregious violators, not mom and pop shops that are following the law. And we're creating a public facing dashboard for transparency displaying only fully adjudicated cases. I wanna be very clear, this motion does not add any new ordinances to enforce.

It simply asks us to more effectively use the tools and best practices at our disposal to enforce the laws that are already on the books. Yet enforcement alone isn't enough. Enough. We must also support the employers who are providing high quality jobs and ensure they can stay and grow here in LA County. Again, County spends about 8,000,000,000 annually on goods and services.

We're big county with pretty strong purchasing power. And the Made in LA program motion directs ISD and DEO to design a pilot program that will test buying a portion of those goods from local manufacturers manufacturers who who pay pay living living wages, wages, provide provide benefits, benefits, and maintain safe working conditions right here locally. High road manufacturers are being undercut by competitors who break the rules. This pilot gives responsible employers a chance to compete on a level playing field. Every dollar we direct to a high road manufacturer is a dollar that helps keep quality jobs with fair wages and safe working conditions right here in LA County.

So together colleagues, these two motions send a clear and consistent message that LA County will hold bad actors accountable and reward the businesses and workers building a better economy right here at home. I know we've got the two fearless leaders of these two departments if any of my colleagues have any questions. I know that there have been some concerns about businesses responding to agenda item 25. So I'd like to ask DCBA, what privacy guardrails do we have in place to protect both employee and employer information during enforcement work and how will those protections continue under this motion?

Thank you, Supervisor Rafael Carbojal. Privilege of being the director here at the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. We already have guardrails in place where when we receive investigations, we're not disclosing information for the employees or the employees that filed the claims. In addition, when it comes to the businesses, we don't disclose any information relative to the business during the investigation. Information that is shared is only after settlement or adjudication This is information that's already readily available. What we're really talking about in this motion is about how we present information that is already available, not actually new information.

Again, the dashboard would only reflect adjudicated cases. Again, that information is already available. We're just really trying to consolidate it so the public can access it equally. One more question, I may, Madam Chair. The California Labor Commissioner has operated a co enforcement model for over ten years, along with other local jurisdictions like I mentioned. So have these models produced any outcomes that have been unfair to businesses, or have they primarily helped surface violations that would have otherwise gone undetected?

No, you're absolutely right. No evidence demonstrates that there's been an unfair disadvantage to any of these businesses. Actually, it proves to be even that much more effective because one, it helps us identify issues that otherwise wouldn't be identified. Two, it actually brings us cleaner and more effective information so we can move faster through these investigations. And then the reality of this is this is an effort to really make our investigations more effective and more fair.

Thank you. In closing, Madam Chair, I would just say I hope the business community sees these motions coming together for what they are, an effort to both protect workers from the ultimate insult to put in a fair day's work and not be compensated. It's just against the law. And secondly, to really create ongoing support businesses, particularly the good actors who sometimes have a difficulty in competing against those who are not operating in good faith as a business. And so these motions together I think help both communities, those who work for the businesses, and the businesses who we as a county can use our purchasing power to buy local buy goods from.

So with that, thank you very much and I ask for an I vote.

Yes, thank you. I want to join you and thank you again, Supervisor Mitchell, adding me as coauthor on these two items. We all know that we're all living difficult times right now, and that impact on our local economy and businesses is a big stressor, as we know. We must make changes at the county level to help our communities weather this storm, reducing the ongoing impact, and prepare ourselves to build a more resilient and better infrastructure for our future, because difficult times always has a season. With appropriate changes, we can and will be better for it.

Labor protections are extremely important to me as we saw workers across the country come out in full force as was stated on Friday during International Workers Day. There still is much more work to be done. Item '25 in particular is not only an opportunity for DCBA to grow, but to be compensated by the state for the labor protection work that they already do. I appreciate directives in the motion elevating DCBA to become more proactive instead of complaint based when it comes to ensuring workers across the county are paid and treated in accordance with our laws. It's pertinent that DCBA rise to fill the role more intentionally that they were created to do, including amplifying the voice of our most vulnerable populations, especially during this particular time.

That's why I authored the motion creating the opposite of immigrant affairs to live within DCBA alongside the office of labor equity, where I think it's all appropriate. When I served secretary of labor, I pushed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the MIND Safety and Health Administration to expand enforcement on repeat violators for safety and health laws. That's why I also support the fact that this motion calls DCBA to work more closely with the Department of Public Health's Office of Worker and Health Safety. And I also believe that in addition to worker protections, we continue to establish a means of helping local businesses thrive. That's why I authored a motion creating the small business resiliency fund, provided assistance to over 3,000 businesses, and it helped them when they were negatively impacted by way of ice raids.

And separately, I also have for years provided funding to many of our CBOs to deliver grants to small businesses that in my district were suffering long before, well, during the time of COVID, but also during the ice rates. And during the pandemic when I was last chair, the county increased purchasing from our local vendors. That was something we did very deliberately, and I would like to see that that practice is continued. And I think it is imperative that we permanently prioritize purchasing that will benefit our local economy. So buy local, hire local.

Those are my values. Tariffs, as we know, are hurting many of our small businesses and our local businesses causing them to close their doors, and the impact of the ICE rates have left many corridors in our county looking like ghost towns. I see that in the San Gabriel Valley, East Los Angeles, and the Northeast Section of the 1st District. Several areas of our county have not bounced back because of the ice raids, as you well know. But I do have some questions for DCBA, for Rafael.

I'm glad that you're here today and I wholeheartedly support your office being more proactive about worker protections and intentional outreach. However, I do wanna make sure that the report back is well informed by cohesive community feedback that will include not only workers, but the business community and whose compliance to worker protection is a cornerstone here. And I also wanna see that a care first approach is included in the report back so that businesses receive all the support that they need to come into compliance, as was stated by Supervisor Mitchell. And I wanted to ask if you could confirm that you will provide educational material and outreach in multiple languages to all types of businesses and work to conduct broad outreach to both the stakeholder meetings and any enforcement in the future? And I wanna also add, will you provide violations payment, a payment plan for businesses that are repeat offenders, and of course depending on how egregious their actions are, and will you be including street vendors when you start the broader enforcement?

Thank you for the question, Supervisor. Yes to all of the above. In fact, we already do that with all our ongoing work already. As we approach and take this on, we're looking to partner with the business community, in particular the small business development centers, to offer outreach and education and information to our small business and actually connect them to additional resources that they might not otherwise be aware of on top of what the county already offers. We're definitely committed and recognize that there needs to be a balance just like businesses need workers, businesses also need consumers. We want to make sure that we have a fair and vibrant marketplace where folks can thrive on both sides of the coin.

It just comes to mind that some of the programs that we're pushing out right now with DEO, especially towards our vendors and our commissaries, all these efforts to try to get people stabilize, get their permits to be able to even work out of their homes is something that we equally have to continue to work together. So I hope I'm assured that that is going to be a continual process with department's engagement.

Absolutely. We will be co sharing information as well. As we go out, we will share DEO's information and as the DEO goes out, they'll be sharing our information as well.

Very good. Thank you very much, both of you. Thank you. Supervisor Han, you're recognized.

Yeah. Thank you, madam chair, thank you, Supervisors Mitchell and yourself for bringing both of these motions forward. And you're right, Supervisor Mitchell, you know, it's the ultimate, ultimate wrong for someone who is putting in hard day's work and then being cheated out of what is duly owed them. So I appreciate the fact that you are bringing up. It shouldn't just be complaint based because that's a really unfair burden to put on people who are already being oppressed and possibly harassed harassed for them to be the ones to, you know, get enforcement out there and get help.

So I appreciate that we're trying to get ahead of it. I think that is really key. And I feel like wage theft has been an issue we have been struggling with for a long, long time. But again, with the economy being what it is now with so many outside pressures on people to make ends meet, the one thing they should be assured of is their fair wage. And I appreciate that we're really trying to get ahead of that.

And for the other item about made in a made in LA County, you know, we had a made in America when I was in congress. It was a big deal, and it was such a big deal that there there were, you know, restrictions or encouragements on big infrastructure projects in United States, transportation projects that had to, put America first in terms of the buying power. So it's really a a a national movement to buy things that are made in America. So it makes sense, that we push to have things that are made in LA County get some sort of a lift, a preference. And I know even in my district, I represent, you know, manufacturing, logistics, working class jobs, ports, warehousing, supply chain partners.

My district has businesses that produce critical parts for trucking and freight equipment, the aerospace and aircraft industry, clean energy tech. My district, there's food and beverage processing, meat processing, apparel and textiles, and several of my cities fabricate metal and produce machine parts and industrial hardware. So I'm really looking forward to this pilot program to see I'm very curious to see, you know, how this is gonna work, what we're leaning into, what you would consider a success. And I'm wondering, Michael, if you could even speak to do you if this is a well, first of all, would be interesting to see what you would consider success in pilot program. And then are we maybe long term looking at giving extra points or preference when we are awarding contracts to whether or not they have products that are made in LA County?

Thank you for the question, Supervisor. Michael Oh, Director of the Internal Services Department. I'll answer your second question first, is which that we actually have a local small business program now, as you know, along with two other programs, our disabled veteran business enterprise program and social enterprise program, for which those certified firms actually get a preference today. 15 either in points or price preference, which is the biggest I've seen across the country. For those businesses, last year, we actually awarded more than $1,500,000,000 in contracts.

That is one of the great achievements I think the county has made and your board has made in setting up the goals and those preference programs. This pilot program is the next evolution of using our purchasing power for economic development purposes. And looking at each of the categories and really honing in on where we could get the win for both the businesses, but also the departments because it has to meet department's needs. Making sure that we can do that in a way that exponentially benefits everybody is gonna be the key.

Because some of these manufacturers who are making stuff LA stuff in LA County may not be a small business, so they may not fit into another category. But this gives a whole new category of preference, is you're making stuff.

That's exactly right.

Okay. Good. Well, thank you for both of these. I think that these are both important and they make sense to do them together. And I hope people see that we're supporting businesses, but we're supporting our workers first and foremost to make sure that they get what they deserve. Thank you.

Thank you. Supervisor Executive Officer, can we call those members of the public that wish to speak on this item?

Will the following individuals please come forward and staff will assist you? Jacqueline Iniguez, Flor Melendez, Carlos Amador, Maria Jur, Gregoria Muncia, Julia Figuera, McDonald, Yvonne Medrano, Brianna Maldonado, Sofia Bravo, Maria Olivarez, Daisy Gonzales, Juan Carlos Gonzales, Salvador George, Cesar Jacobo, Carmen Gutierrez, Sylvia Peralta, Vanessa Melendres, Jorge Bacanegra, Jamie Gabreta, Daniel Cordoza, Marilyn Barrios, Marilyn Chavez. Caller with phone number 302723, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Good morning, supervisors. I am Nayantara Banerjee, workforce development manager with the Garment Workers Center, and I'm here to support both motions. Pairing them is the right strategy. One prevents wage theft proactively and the other rewards responsible local manufacturers. So I want to give you a really quick example.

A few years ago, I attended a DEO event and I received a tote bag that said shop local in LA County, but that bag was made in Bangladesh when right here in LA we have the nation's largest garment industry. This is exactly what we need to change for garment industry, especially this is constantly battered by the volatility of producing for fast fashion, so stable responsible demand from the county can mean the difference between sporadic work and wage theft and a real reliable job for garment workers. Our tax dollars should support ethical businesses so they can grow and stay here and offer good jobs. We look forward to bringing our experience in our coalition to connect institutions with ethical manufacturers that we directly monitor into the stakeholder groups, and we hope to see more service sector and worker co Thank you.

Ani Buryajian, your line is open. Please begin.

Buryajian with Central City Association, here to voice our concerns on item 25. Safe, fair workplaces are essential to strong businesses, thriving communities, and meaningful opportunities for employees. And employers are firmly committed to protecting workers' rights and complying with employment laws. However, we have concerns that several of the proposed actions could create unintended challenges for employers across Los Angeles, from major industries to the many small and minority owned businesses working hard each day to stay open. Businesses play a critical role in Los Angeles.

They create jobs, generate taxes that pay for critical services, attract foot traffic and opportunity, and much more. We wanna ensure that any policy changes continue to support their ability to do so. For these reasons, we encourage you to consider approaches that both strengthen worker protections and support a fair and impartial business environment. Thank you.

Thank you. Caller with phone number 262352, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Good morning.

My name is Orquidia de Vorreyes with CHIRLA and support. These motions will help ensure LA County workers get the pay that they have rightfully earned and support the local employers that are doing it right and providing high quality jobs with living wages and safe conditions. LA County is the wage theft capital of The United States. The county must take a proactive approach and work hand in hand with trusted community based organizations to ensure workers have the resources that they need to receive the paycheck that they've earned. A county that enforces the laws on the books is good for workers and good for business.

Without enforcement, bad actors can undercut good ones and drive a race to the bottom. LA County is a manufacturing hub and is home to the nation's largest garment manufacturing industry. Local small businesses are making the products LA County needs every day while also providing high quality career paths for Angelina. LA County has the opportunity power to support these employers by buying the products it needs from the producers in our own backyard, all while helping grow high quality jobs to support families across the county.

Caller with phone number 310462, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Good afternoon good morning. My name is Yarissa Gonzales, and I'm here on behalf of Carisen, the Central American Resource Center. Through our day labor center, Carisen has witnessed how wage theft is a common occurrence for. Tell us that they but given the current barriers to wage theft claims many continue working rather than fight to for stolen wages because to them that money is lost. The county must take a approach approach and work hand in hand with trusted community based organizations to ensure workers have the resources they need to receive the paycheck they've earned. We urge the board of supervisors to support these motions to ensure LA County workers get the pay they rightfully earned. Thank you.

Thank you. John your line is open. Please begin.

Good morning. John Vuery, I'm the executive director of the Made in LA Coalition and we're here to support item number 26. This Made in LA pilot program really will change the game and demonstrate the county's commitment to the thousands of manufacturers in garment and across industries from food to furnishings to even fragrances and home care. These are all products being made across the county, and this is a statement by passing this initiative that says the county of LA is supporting small manufacturers. We appreciate your effort to advance this and look forward to working with staff and your offices to implement the best program to support and uplift manufacturers across the county.

Thank you. Caller with phone number 213627, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

My name is Brian Bienketti. I'm the founder of the Made in LA Coalition and the CEO of People's Choice Beef Jerky, and I speak on behalf of the hundreds of local LA County manufacturers that choose to call Los Angeles home, in that it's getting more and more difficult to operate businesses here, but we're committed. We're committed to the county, we're committed to creating high growth jobs, to launching and growing products, and proving that LA is still home to one of the most important manufacturing hubs in the country. And we support the number 26, because it's going to make a big difference for all of us. So, thank you so much to Supervisor Mitchell, and we're big fans of number twenty six, so thank you.

Thank you. Caller with phone number 56025, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Hi, good afternoon Board of Supervisor. My name is Lavita Martinez with CIRLA and Immigrants RLA. First, I want to thank the leadership of supervisor Holly Mitchell and, coauthor, board of supervisor, Solis. Immigrants are disproportionately impacted by wage theft. This is nothing new to all the folks that we serve at Trula, so I wanna take the time to support motion both motions twenty five and and twenty six, and I'll yield my

time for the rest of the callers.

Thank you. Caller with phone number 434745, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Hi, my name is Noel Nolton Laskin, I'm a proud member of the Teamsters Union. I've also worked in the hospitality industry where I saw firsthand how rampant wage theft can be when you don't have proper protections. Even when workers know that their wages are being stolen, if there's not proper enforcement, they're not gonna actually reach out and do anything about it because people are simply too scared of the consequences. I've also seen that Amazon workers recently were able to get hundreds of thousands of dollars back in stolen wages, but that's only because they fought back and organized. They should not have to do that, and this is an excellent way to be able to stop that.

Thank you. Caller with phone number 310200, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Hi, I'm Ms. Stephanie Castaneda, vice president of the Centennial Valley Union High School District speaking on my own behalf and a labor organizer who lives and grew up in unincorporated Lenox. I'm supportive of both of these motions. I've stood on picket lines with predominantly brown garment workers fighting large corporations that shut down and disappear before being held accountable. I've gone on strike with workers whose wages were stolen, who then had to wait years to get back what they were already owed, years that families simply can't afford.

In communities like Lenox that law shows up in our schools. It's rent that can't get paid stress that follow students into the classroom and kids trying to learn while their families are just trying to stay afloat. That's why enforcement matters. Workers deserve the pay they've already earned and responsible employers shouldn't be undercut by those who break the law. For us, this isn't about stability for families. This is about, stability for families and a better shot for our students. I appreciate you bringing this motion forward. And Thank

you. Caller with phone number 213908, your line is open. Please state your name and begin. Caller, your line is open. Caller with phone number 562581, your line is open. Please begin.

Good morning. Jackie Romero with the California Restaurant Association speaking on item 25. We have significant concerns with the direction of this item. Employers are committed to protecting workers' rights and complying with the law. Those goals are shared, but achieving them requires thoughtful policymaking and meaningful collaboration with all stakeholders, including the business community responsible for implementation. As proposed, this approach raises serious concern about government overreach, accountability, duplication of existing state enforcement, and unintended economic impacts. Moving away from a complaint based system negatively impacts businesses with no history of labor violations. Enforcement efforts should remain focused on bad faith actors. Notably, the legislature removed the public dashboard from AB two sixty one, reflecting concerns about these type of approaches. These are not minor issues.

They go to feasibility, cost, and effectiveness. We continue to respectfully ask the board to ensure robust stakeholder engagement before moving forward with any policy proposals. Specifically, we urge you to treat the proposed dashboard as a report back, not as a directive, so that the board has a full understanding of the impact, cost, and resources needed before

Thank you. We will now go to in person speakers. Please begin.

Good morning. My name is Flor Melendres, and I proudly serve as the executive director of the Clean Car Wash Workers Center, a nonprofit organization that focuses on organizing and leadership development of car wash workers. I'm here to show support in motions twenty five and twenty six. As a trusted organization in our community, given our current political climate, not only are these motions needed, but they are crucial. With so many attacks in our communities, we have to ensure that there is a structure that supports workers whose wages are stolen and that continues to provide a fair playing field for the employers who are following the law.

During the last year, we have witnessed the car wash industry and other low wage industries be harassed at the workplace. And as we continue to follow-up directly with workers, not only are they living in fear, but they are also coming to us as the work trusted worker center for support and guidance. These motions will help ensure LA County workers get the pay they have rightfully earned and support the local employees.

Good morning. My name is Carlos Amador. I'm with the Clean Car Wash Workers Center, also part of the LA Workers Center network in support of items twenty five and twenty six. Our organization is incubating a worker cooperative focused on mobile car wash services. It is an economic development project that supports car wash workers, earn fair wages as well as build their leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

Clean Wash Mobile, the cooperative, is established in Los Angeles and composed of all Los Angeles County residents servicing the greater Los Angeles area. So this project is part of the LA County economic power, and LA County has the opportunity to use its own market power to support these local businesses by buying the products and services it needs while also helping grow the quality jobs that our community needs. So, therefore, I want to speak in support of item twenty five and twenty six. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hello. Maria, you're on behalf of the Los Angeles Workers Center Network in support of items twenty five and twenty six. LA continues to be the wage theft capital of the nation with lowest income workers losing around 12% of their wages to wage theft every year. Wage theft undercuts families' abilities to provide for themselves and pushes them into greater dependence on public programs. As our report published in collaboration with the UCLA Labor Center has documented, wage theft also fuels our region's housing and homelessness crisis.

Studies attribute rising homelessness to loss of income above all else and wage theft compounds that risk for workers of color, women, and immigrants. Strengthening the OLE's enforcement capacity is both an economic justice and a fiscal imperative. As LA prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympics, our labor standards will be under scrutiny globally. Please pass these motions. Thank you. And I also have these letters to submit for the public record. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning. My name is Julia Figueroa McDonough. I'm the associate vice president for economic justice at Bedsettic here to support items twenty five and twenty six. Bedsettic provides free legal services to low wage workers and small business owners. We partner closely with worker centers and small business development centers.

And we know from experience that their interests are very much aligned. A coenforcement wage recovery model centered on worker participation and organizing maximizes impact directing dollars back into our local economy. Likewise, procurement policies that give a fair shot to high road locally owned small businesses help level the playing field for responsible employers and make good jobs reality for more workers throughout the county. With the upcoming games bringing billions of dollars, millions of visitors, and the world's attention to LA, there's no better time to build an infrastructure that serves the workers and small businesses that drive our local economy. We applaud Supervisors Mitchell and Solis for their vision and commitment to working on Gelino's and urge the board to meet this moment and join them in passing these motions. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning Yvonne Madrono in favor of agenda number 25. I am the directing attorney for Beth Zedek Legal Services Employment Rights Project. We are the only legal service provider that can represent any worker in LA County regardless of immigration status. Through the years of filing with the California Labor Commissioner, we have watched the processing times grow from two to five years. The two most impacted offices are right here in Los Angeles, the wage theft capital of the nation.

That is precisely why DCBA's investigative work is so critical and why this motion to strengthen its capacity to address wage theft is so essential. The argument that this process is duplicative misunderstands the reality workers face. Currently workers who file a minimum wage claim with DCBA must separately file with the Labour Commissioner for overtime, rest and meal break violations. This motion eliminates that burden and makes DCBA more efficient. We also urge the board to recognize the value of collaborating with worker centers. They serve as trusted intermediaries between low wage immigrant workers and government agencies. We thank supervisors Mitchell and Solis for their commitment to workers.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hello, Jacqueline Yeniguez. Good morning, board of supervisors. I'm a policy manager for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, and I'll be speaking on item 25. The chamber has concerns regarding the proposed motion to expand the county's coenforcement motto of workplace violations. The creation of a worker advisory body to target high risk industries along with the allocation of the county's limited resources to potentially duplicate enforcement initiatives will impose broader disproportionate burdens on small businesses, particularly for restaurants and retail establishments as they continue to recover from post pandemic and federal immigration enforcement impacts.

While the chamber strongly supports worker protections in full compliance with employment laws, the proposal raises concerns related to employer privacy, due process.

What happened to her mic?

Go ahead again.

We'll give you your time.

She's on. Oh, I

think it was just me, sorry. Due process protections and the use of limited county resources, the chamber respectfully requests the county to reject the proposal but pursue an approach that safeguards worker protection while still promoting a competitive business environment. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning, my name is Gregorio Mensia and I am here with the Garment Workers Center. I've been working in the garment industry for thirty years.

And

I've also suffered from wage theft. Working for ten hours a day from Monday through Friday for $350 to $400 a week. This is a smart investment on the county's behalf. Every dollar that we take back goes back to the pockets of those of the low income workers.

Who

invested locally as it is with food, childcare, and also within their community. That helps the workers, local businesses, and all companies.

Angeles

The garment workers center from Los Angeles also support this motion.

That

will help by generating better businesses and more employment in Los Angeles. This is a great step forward for the manufacturing sector in the local area. By using the power of the county for local businesses.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning, supervisors. My name is Brianna Maldonado, and I am a community organizer working at Lane, a longtime partner of the county. I am here strongly supporting item twenty five and twenty six. Every day, our team is on the ground talking to nonunion grocery and retail workers throughout LA County providing essential know your right information. Imagine working a full day like today and not receiving your days paid to support your family, to pay for rent, and food, and having that mental toll weigh on you on being $50 or $80 short.

Through these hundreds of conversations, one thing is devastating clear. Wage and hour violations are the primary crisis fight facing these workers. This initiative helps maintain the high standards set by our union grocery stores by cracking down on wage theft in nonunion shops. We ensure that bad actor employers cannot undercut responsible businesses by exploiting their staff. Vote yes to ensure LA County workers can finally reclaim their wages that are rightfully theirs. A day's work

should be Next speaker, please.

My

name is Cesar Acobo, and I support motion twenty five and twenty six. I've been working at the Car Wash Clean for thirty two years now. My experience in the car wash industry has been wage theft. They did not pay me overtime nor did they pay me or give me my ten minutes of break. In the carwash industry, we have been a we have been needing to accept all of these violations in fear of losing our work, and even more so now with these rates that impact severely our car washes, and it causes even more fear.

The Los Angeles County is the capital of wage theft in The United States. The county should adopt and focus on a proactive hand in hand organizations and within their communities to be able to trust and guarantee that the workers do have the resources needed to receive a check and to be able to make the money that they require. Thank you Supervisor Holly Mitchell for leading this motion.

Thank you. Next speaker please.

Hello. Good morning. My name is Sylvia Peralta. I have worked in the car wash industry for eight years, and I am member leader of Centro Trabajadores Clean. Now that our car wash colleagues and ourselves suffer with wage theft and violations in our area of work, it is important that motions like these become reality.

These motions would help guarantee that the workers from the county of Los Angeles receive the wages that they have legitimately earned by supporting local businesses that are doing it right. And by supplying jobs of well quality as well as justified wages and safe conditions.

Thank you. Next speaker please.

Hi, good morning. Hello supervisors. I do wanna give a special thanks to Holly Mitchell and supervisor Solis. My name is Carmen Gutierrez. I'm an organizer with the Clean Car Wash Workers Center and I'm here to speak in favor of item twenty five and twenty six.

These motions will help ensure that LA County workers get the pay that they have rightfully earned. The car wash industry is rampant with wage theft and retaliatory actions towards workers that decide to enforce their rights and passing item twenty five and twenty six would make it easier to collect those stolen wages for car wash workers, workers who have already severely suffered financial hardship in dealing with the aftermath of their industry being directly targeted by federal immigration rates here in LA County. In the past eleven months, over a 107 car washes

Thank you. Madam chair there are no other remote speakers to address the board on items twenty five and twenty six and we will close the queue for remote speakers. We will go back to in person. Please continue. Good morning. My name is Maria.

Member of the Garment Worker Center. I have worked in the garment industry for thirty two years. The garment workers are in support of the two motions by supervisor Mitchell. One motion is a tool to ensure that Los Angeles stops being the weight theft capital of the world. And to support the workers that have suffered To support the workers that have suffered for wage theft.

That's very important. The garment workers also support the second motion that will support the workers and the economy of Los Angeles.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning, supervisors. My name is George Bocanegra. I'm with the Western States Carpenters. We support agenda item twenty five and twenty six because wage theft hurts the workers who are building Los Angeles County, housing, infrastructure, and public projects. Responsible contractors and skilled work construction workers should not be undercut by companies that cheat workers at a fair pay or ignore labor laws.

This proposal strengthens enforcement, improves coordination between agencies, and creates more transparency and accountability. By targeting industries with high violations and partnering with worker organizations such as the Carpenters Union, the county can better protect workers while supporting responsible contractors that invest in apprenticeship programs, safety, and middle class careers. Protecting wages also helps stabilize the construction workforce needed to build affordable housing, transportation, schools, and critical infrastructure across the county. This is about fairness, accountability.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. My name is Sofia Bravo, and I

have worked in the garment industry for thirty eight years. The garment workers of Los Angeles support these motions. These are difficult times for the workers with low wages especially those immigrant workers and the wage theft has made it impossible to be able to live our lives. The garment workers of Los Angeles also support the motion that will help generate more businesses as well as better employment in Los Angeles. We support the companies that abide by the laws and the rules in Los Angeles along with security in the workplace and we applaud the County of Los Angeles for these motions that support and they also apply with the law.

As a worker, I have seen the laws being applied throughout the years.

Thank you. Next speaker please.

Good morning. My name Marilyn Barrios. I am here in favor of items twenty five and twenty six. I am an environmental student. I graduated from West LA College and a current UCLA undergrad.

I am also the daughter of Guatemala immigrants who were displaced due to the Guatemalan civil war, a conflict that was fueled by US corporate, corporations and also a conflict that led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people. Here in LA County, my parents faced low wages, systemic discrimination, and also the injustices of every day of being brown and poor while those same corporations were never held accountable. I plead you to do better. When corporations, when left unchecked, have historically proven to place profits above everything else, including the safety and health of all people.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez.

Good morning. My name is Juan Carlos Gonzalez.

I'm a representative of the Garment Workers Center of Los Angeles. I have worked in the garment industry for twenty six years. It's sad to say, but I started working before I turned 17.

We

have suffered a lot of wage theft. Many times I've worked from ten to twelve to fifteen hours. That you can help the garment workers. Many of us who have children that can vote have voted for one of you that is present here today. And I want to ask that you please support this motion.

It's hard. You can listen to my story, but living it is different and it cannot be explained. Represent thousands of workers and garment workers of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles

is known for garment workers. Most of the best designs have come out of here for the whole world.

And

lastly, thank you for giving the garment workers the opportunity to come speak here.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning. My name is Daisy Gonzales. I'm the campaigns director at the Garmin Workers Center. The Garmin Workers Center is in full support of the reclaiming wages motion. It's integral that partnerships with worker centers are the foundation.

We have the trust and the daily contact with workers that DCBA needs to actually find violations, and this motion gets that right. This is a smart investment. Every dollar we recover goes back into the pockets of low wage workers who spend it locally on rent, food, childcare, and that helps workers, local businesses, and the whole economy. We're also in support of the local purchasing motion. It's a strong step forward for the local manufacturing sector using the county's purchasing power to support local responsible businesses is exactly right.

We're excited to see the county and supervisor Mitchell focus on local manufacturing and recognize that this motion is very clear about the issue of wage theft across many of our local industries. Please approve both motions. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good

morning. My name is Gloria Miguel. I am an organizer with Garment Workers Center. I've also worked in the industry for fifteen years and I do know the exploitation and the harassment that comes with it. The center the garment center of Los Santos supports these motions fully.

And we also think it's fundamental that you create relationships with center of the workers so that we can also gain that trust to be able to also work with the workers daily.

So that the

DCBA also needs to be able to identify truly these infractions, this motion would help. This motion also amplifies the joint working center and it utilizes the knowledge so that we are able to understand and know our different territories and who and where we can go and sit and talk to for campaigns. It is great to see that supervisor Mitchell has joined us in the local and recognizes

us. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning. I'm Jaime Gabrera representing Filipino Workers Center. I moved to Los Angeles in August 2024 to start a new life after surviving human trafficking in Pennsylvania. I hope for a fresh start, but instead, I was taken advantage of by the employer who hired me as a caregiver. During my time at that facility, my employer required me to work from 05:30AM to 08:30PM without breaks.

I was paid only a $130 per day with no overtime pay, no days off, no benefits. My wages were often delayed, and many of the supplies came from a food pantry where much of the food was expired. As a result, I even experienced food poisoning. My experience in that workplace worsened my ongoing struggles with anxiety, depression, and PTSD caused by my trauma of surviving human trafficking.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Thank you, board. You have just heard from you have just heard from our one of our workers at the Filipino Workers Center. My name is Vanessa. I'm the civic engagement coordinator for the Filipino Workers Center, and I just wanted to come up here and mention the importance of, item twenty five and twenty six and voting in favor of them. Wage theft claims take years to process at the state, leaving people who are depending on these wages in a tough situation, as you just heard.

That is because of the tremendous backlog they have at the state. That is why passing item twenty five and twenty six would be helpful to get these people paid, increase enforcement, and embolden workers workers instead of employers who feel now that they can get away with egregious labor violations due to our saturated state system. I want to also stress the importance of working with worker centers who specialize in targeted outreach, to those that are most vulnerable. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning, madam chair and members of the board. My name is Salvador George, I'm a twenty year carpenter currently serve as a representative for the carpenter's union. We strongly support agenda item twenty five and twenty six because it addresses exactly what we see every day in the field. In residential construction, wage theft is not rare. It's common.

Workers are being paid less than minimum wage, off the books, denied overtime, and in some cases, even living on the job sites under unsafe conditions, many are afraid to speak up. Today, our team is currently working with a situation where a worker has been has not been compensated in eight months for working fifteen hours a day throughout the night from 3PM to 7AM as a security guard and general labor cleanup for construction site. And now that he has requested our our assistance, the general contractor has threatened to deport him by threats of contracting ICE. He has been offered $400 to

Thank go you.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you. Morning, my name is Daniel Cardozo. I'm a small business owner here in Los Angeles and a board member of the Alliance for Responsible Apparel Manufacturing and Purchasing. I just wanted to make two quick points. The first is the current preference category gives preference to local businesses, but even if they outsource their production, contributing to the loss of our manufacturing jobs here in LA County.

And the second point I wanted to make was minimum wage increases are course crucially important, but we need to be realistic about the impact of minimum wage increases on prices. With this program, the county has the opportunity to lead by example and show that if price is the only consideration for consumers, we cannot hope to retain dignified middle class jobs in our community. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Madam Chair and members of the board, that concludes public comment on these items.

Thank you. Supervisor Mitchell, you wish to be recognized.

Thank you Madam Chair. Yes, briefly, I wanted to thank all those who came to provide testimony today. We heard some heart wrenching stories, and I appreciate your willingness to share them to help educate us all about the importance of the issue that we're trying to address today. Secondly, I want to thank the chamber for being here in person. I listened very closely to some of the business associations who called in.

I know that there were some questions raised in cluster, which is why we had you two here to address those issues. I'm unclear, based on the kind of testimony we've seen and what we're putting forward in the motion, really the true nature opposition. Other than some veiled reference to minority owned businesses, I didn't get the point. Because let me just be clear, if a minority owned business does not pay people for a fair day's work, then the minority owned business be held accountable too. Let me just be clear.

Secondly, Madam Chair, I may, the county has done amazing work for small businesses, just the relatively short time since I've been here. Business interruption fund for small businesses impacted by retail theft, homelessness. To date, DEO has administered 86,000,000 in grants since 2022 to businesses countywide. The commercial acquisition fund over 15,000,000 to help small businesses acquire their commercial property. We made sure that small businesses were able to receive help as a result of the fire relief grants.

Distributed over 25,000,000 in economic relief grants during COVID. The economic opportunity grants. We advocated for and passed an economic mobility initiative that not only has provided small dollar grants to small businesses, but provided entrepreneurship training and mentorship. The commercial storefront renovations program, the renovate program. We created $20,000,000 set aside grant program for childcare providers impacted by the pandemic.

That's just what I could remember off the top of my head in the last ten minutes. The point is, I rarely remember the business associations showing up to advocate when we brought those motions forward. So again, I ask for your support of these two motions. I think they are fair and balanced and protect workers and support businesses that do right by their employees. I ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you and I wanna join you in thanking the individuals that came out and testified and gave their stories and shared those stories, because this is something that's been going on for decades. And I remember very distinctly the car wash incident even as a state legislator and also as a congresswoman hearing about the abuses and the fact that at that time we were able, I think through different administration, to actually go after wage theft. And there were consequences and penalties. So those are things that we need to think about because while we have maybe an administration back east that doesn't agree with this, we have an obligation here to do more. And we just heard that there are people here at their different respective worker centers that wanna be a part of this discussion stakeholders and help to guide us.

So I think that's a real big opportunity for us to expand this effort and then to make sure that we do incentivize buying local but make it local, and actually ask our departments to do the same thing because many times our department heads will purchase items to give out, I call it chum, and just look at the label, where was it made, and baby we need to do a better job of figuring out how we can empower our own economic entrepreneurs that can also step in and start to grow that economy here. That's just something that I think is very easy and simple for us to look at. Again, thank you, and thank you Supervisor Mitchell, and to everyone who came and testified, and those that also were on the phone. So with that

Madam Chair, item 25 is before you.

Okay, this is moved by Supervisor Mitchell, I will second. To approve the item, Executive Officer, call the roll.

Supervisor Mitchell? Aye. Supervisor Mitchell, aye. Supervisor Hahn?

Aye.

Supervisor Han, aye. Supervisor Solis? Aye. Supervisor Solis, aye. 25, motion carries unanimously. Now we're going to move forward to agenda item 26.

Thank you.

26 is Yes. Before

Moved by Supervisor Mitchell, seconded by myself, Solis, call the

roll.

Supervisor Mitchell? Aye. Supervisor Mitchell, aye. Supervisor Han? Aye. Supervisor Han, aye. Supervisor Solis? Aye. Supervisor Solis, aye. 26 passes unanimously.

We will now move on to step matter one, report on the plan developed to support represented Los Angeles Housing Services Authority workers, which was held forward report. For members of the public joining us remotely to comment on this item, please use the raise hand feature if you're online or press 3 if on a telephone. Jeremy Gray, acting chief deputy chief executive office, Rodney Collins, chief deputy director and Johan Julen, assistant director, department of human resources will make a presentation. For the departmental speakers, please state your name title for the record when you address the board.

Thank you. Let us start with our acting CEO. Jeremy, you wanna open?

Yeah. Thank you, supervisor. I just wanted to start this morning's discussion acknowledging that layoff notices were sent to a group of employees within LASA. And I wanna start today's discussion first off by acknowledging that process, and no doubt the feeling of despair that these employees must be feeling at the time. It is not lost upon me that almost three decades ago, I experienced a similar situation while working within the Department of Health Services during the financial crisis.

Before we received the $11.15 waiver dollars, many of the workforce at that time were at risk of losing jobs. And I will tell you I still remember the feeling of despair at the moment receiving that layoff notice. And it is not lost on me that now almost three decades later, though smaller in scope, I am now here in front of your board discussing a similar issue, and I am sensitive to that. I want our labor partners to understand that I think your board has individuals such as myself and members of my team and members of DHR that have the lived experience and understand the urgency of the moment circumstances that we are in, and we are proceeding accordingly. So I wanted to take just a few minutes to open with those remarks and just let our labor partners know that we are here, we understand, and we are working as fast as we can to address your board's commitment of finding pathways to county funded, represented employees.

I would start by saying it's going well. We have 74 job offers that we've extended. We have 29 individuals that have already started county employment. We are moving in the right direction. On April 20, we learned via a press release from LASA that two eighty four individuals would be receiving layoff notices on the April 30.

Of that two eighty four, two sixteen were represented, and of the two sixteen, one hundred and fifty four we learned after research were county funded. The good news about the shifting landscape is that we have more visibility now to really understand who in fact are going to be impacted, and that gives us more information, quite frankly, than we had in the past. I am going to hand it off to my colleagues from the Department of Human Resources that can talk more comprehensively about some of what we're doing to address who we know now will be impacted population from LASA. Rodney?

Good morning, supervisors. Good morning, chair. Rodney Collins, the Department of Human Resources. Similar to what you just heard from the CEO's office, DHR's commitment is to do everything that we can to help all of the employees who are going to be impacted by these layoffs. First and foremost, I'm gonna just give you a couple of numbers.

Don't wanna give too many numbers, but we've done some analysis, and we wanna today. First, I'm gonna talk about the whole number. The press release number that you just heard, we believe is approximately two eighty four, but we also found on the list of employees that impacted, or positions that will be impacted, some vacant positions. So that takes down the number a little bit. In addition, we've also identified that some of the individuals on the layoff list actually are in queue with offers in hand from the county, and will be hired either this month, will be starting their jobs, if they accept them, this month or next month.

In total, we have a 154 county funded jobs that are on the the list right now, and our tracking indicates that in addition to those, there would be 55 positions that the county does not fund, and we are looking closely at those individuals as well. So everyone that county funded represented those positions, they've always been and they continue to be focused on by DHR. The 55 positions where there is no county funding, again, we are looking closely at those positions to determine and provide the board with options as to what we can do. I'll give you an example of a conversation we've had of many in the last couple of days that our team brought to us last night. We know that our outreach workers, the individuals that are most vulnerable and have lived experience and are actually on the street talking and working with our homeless population, we've identified approximately individuals, seventeen, eighteen individuals on the list that we are gonna work very hard to see if we can identify additional opportunities to assist those individuals.

Excuse me, is that from the 55?

That is from the 55 because their funding is coming from the city of Los Angeles, the federal government through HUD, as well as the of California. So their funding is from another source, but we're gonna do everything we can to look at options for them. Now, what this represents, and at least what we're seeing, the numbers are moving, and the numbers will continue to move. That's the layoff process. I understand that some of the The way that LASA The way that LASA identified individuals for layoff is by seniority.

As the county has experienced, as Jeremy has mentioned, there is an appeals process that will take place, where individuals will be given an opportunity to say, You know, that seniority date that you have for me is wrong, and that I actually should be placed differently based upon my seniority date. And so what we anticipate is that individuals will move in and out. Nevertheless, the numbers should stay pretty consistent. There's another instance with the numbers that we identified, and that is because of the individuals that we've hired, we anticipate that some of those numbers were not taken into consideration. And that is because some of the individuals may not have given notice that they intend on leaving LASA to come to the county of Los Angeles.

And what that's gonna mean is that some room will be made over at LASA if those individuals come to the county of Los Angeles to allow individuals on the list to now move into jobs that are left vacant LASA. Most importantly, DHR is working in any number of ways to assist individuals regardless of which side of the list they find themselves on. Number one, our concierge program. Our concierge program is approximately two twenty individuals right now who have asked for help. We're gonna continue to work with those individuals.

In addition, we had a conversation with our Department of Economic Opportunities. I wanna thank Kelly Lobianco for offering her assistance, and the assistance that they'll be able to provide includes utilizing the American Job Centers. They have a rapid response services portion of what they do, as well as paid transitional work support services and hiring events sponsor, where they will also be able to bring private sector employers to the table to assist with hiring individuals who are impacted, regardless of county funding or not. Now, I wanna pass it to Johann, Doctor. Yuline, to talk about what are we, the County Of Los Angeles and DHR, specifically doing to help hire individuals.

Doctor. Yuline?

Thanks very much, Rodney. Thanks very much for having us supervisors. So what I'd like to do is discuss our efforts to try to get the rest of these LASA folks into county employment. So far, we've had three hiring events that have specifically targeted county funded represented LASA employees. The first of these was on April 16 with 13 departments, and we got two eighty three attendees there, which is really, really fantastic.

About a week later on April 23, we had three departments at that one with 95 attendees. Both of those events were virtual. Most recently, we did have an in person event last Monday, which is April 27. Seven departments attended that one, and we had 70 LASA staffers attend. Obviously these events don't do us any good unless we also have open recruitments where we're actively soliciting LASA folks to apply.

So to that end, what we've done is opened quite a few recruitments that specifically target that population. And I'd like to express my appreciation for the seven departments that have stepped up to really get those recruitments up and running. I'll briefly mention which ones those are. It's child support services, internal services, health services, public works, JCOD, HSH, and of course us at DHR. So across those seven departments, we've now opened a total of 46 different recruitments in the last few weeks, and that is reallyI want to say that that is really quite a phenomenal number.

So to that end also though, we've also got another hiring event coming up at the end of next week on May 15. That will be another in person event that we're hosting. We've got about 80 between eighty and ninety county funded people who don't yet have job offers. So we're really working with some county departments, 10 county departments in particular, on opening a wide variety of recruitments to fit the skill profiles of those folks who don't yet have an offer. I did want to mention that although we do have a lot opportunities that are cooking right at the moment, there very well and I want to be real here that there will be some folks that we may not be able to assist.

We saw this in our community health worker recruitments, and that despite our best efforts, some of the folks did not apply. They did not attend our hiring events. And beyond that, there were a few that the departments were less interested in hiring for a number of reasons. So for example, the hiring geography didn't work for the candidate, or they didn't have the right skill set, among other reasons. But But the silver lining in all of this is that the county departments have made a total of 147 hiring commitments for LASA staff, so when you bump that up against the roughly 80 or so folks that don't yet have job offers, optimistic that we will be able to find a county home for a good number of those folks.

I'd like to note that it's important that we have more commitments than we do remaining LASA staffers who are looking for jobs. And that's an important thing that we have in our back pocket to ensure that we maximize the number of opportunities that are available, knowing that not everyone is going to fit into each of the jobs that we have available. So to that end, I think we're fortunate that the county departments have stepped up to make some of these commitments to hire LASA staffers. Finally, I wanted to emphasize that as we get and closer to that June 30 cutoff date and even beyond that date, as Rodin mentioned, we will continue to help LASA staff identify opportunities to work at the county and possibly even jobs beyond the county at other organizations. There are even there are a few examples of this already.

Internally, we are sending out resource information to all LASA staff members coming up within the next week or so, which will provide a lot of information about the available opportunities that we have internally. Separately, I also understand that DEO has recently stepped up to offer their assistance in placing loss of staffers as well. So we're really doing all we can. We're really trying to pull out all the stops here to try to ensure that everyone ends up having a place to land.

Thank you. I wanted to ask, can you go back again and tell me of the number that you cited, two eighty four, how many have actually got hired?

I'm sorry, what was that? The last

number number? Of the number,

two eighty four, how

many have actually been, not that are on board, they've been hired.

So 29 people have already

started. Of the two eighty four.

Right, so 29 people have actually started and are in the job today. And I believe 43 additional have received contingent job offers. So when you add that up, that comes to 72.

So that's what it looks like. That's the delta.

Supervisor, yeah. Let me I I caught that. Let me focus in on the two eighty one that are on the layoff list today, and I think what I will point to response tells you is when we started this work, we had a number of individuals that were not at risk of layoff that we ended up hiring. So that's some of the numbers that you just heard, but it's gonna open up space. To your question, we have actually One person started yesterday, and 26 individuals have contingent offers with a job and essentially have been made offers and they're going through the background process.

For a total of 27, we had one person who was made an offer that's on the layoff list who declined our offer, and so that's a total of 28 individuals.

Okay, I just wanna ask a few questions. I know that we have folks in the audience. We've been contacted also by SEIU, seven twenty one about how this process has been conducted. And I know there is a lot of anxiety and strain and people are very, very nervous about not having any employment and benefits, after June 30. So one of my questions is, and maybe this is for CEO, have we thought about how we could provide protections, fringe benefits or benefits to these individuals who may not have a job but will be able to qualify for continued use of their benefits at least for the month of July?

And can we extend perhaps to these employees coverage for July 1? And is that something that the county could do? Because if we're having difficulty, it looks like it's just not going as fast and quickly. The clock is ticking and I feel very compelled to ask if we have resources or the thought to look in into this to provide that kind of coverage for these individuals?

Supervisor, thank you for the question. I think first and foremost, we are providing gap insurance to those individuals that will be transitioning from LASA to county employment. As they transition from LASA, which is a separate agency, and they come to the county, we have committed to providing gap insurance. I think as it relates to specifically your question in July, it's very early for us to really know the landscape at that time. I feel that the current momentum will allow us to address finding pathways to employment for all those individuals that your board committed to.

I think assuming otherwise is failure, and we're not gonna do that. Think if we're asking about about insurance or coverage for those individuals that are not county funded, I would have to go back and research addressing that for various reasons, but I would have to confer with experts from my office and maybe county council.

And perhaps the city of Los Angeles, because some of those employees are paid by them.

That's correct.

What I would like to inquire is is that a possibility? I would like to see that happen because I just feel like, look at, I feel like the time, the clock is running out and there are many people that we still have to serve and you have a lot of people in the queue, in the concierge program, two twenty that are still going through that, no one knows what that outcome is going to be, and that's a large number. So I'm just looking at what kind of fallback plan do we have to help these employees that could receive, if we can work something out with the city appropriately as well to provide that assistance so at least that they don't fall off the cliff, and that's not what we want, right? So is that something that the CEO that you can report to us back on?

We could, supervisor. We continue to reach out to LA City and inquire about their overall strategy for homelessness. I think there are numerous city council offices that are currently in deliberation about how to move forward with their plans, and I think things are in flux, but we will continue to reach out and try to gain a level of clarity to understand their plans, because to your point, that relates directly to the issue that I think you're referring to. So the more clarity that we have around their plan and their funding strategy as it relates to LASA, I think we will have a more comprehensive picture on where the other non county funded employees will go.

So there's actually two categories, because one is those that are not paid by the county, and then those that are with the county but haven't accepted anything yet. I mean, there's been no placement for them, and that's the large number that remains. So I think those individuals are equally concerned that their benefits are going to lapse after June 30. And can you tell us if that is the case?

Supervisor, I have a high level of confidence that we will be able to address all of the county funded positions at LASA currently seeking a pathway to employment with the county of LA. It moving probably not as quickly as any of us would prefer, but it's moving at a pace that I can see that we will meet the mark by July. And again, let reiterate that those Is

that a guarantee?

Yes. A guarantee. Yes. Okay, that's good.

If I could just It is a guarantee if these employees also help us. I'm just gonna reiterate, we have eight employees, we have jobs waiting for some of the outreach workers. They have not and will not, as many times as we've called, submitted applications. So I just wanted to put a little pin in that, that we continue to reach out and we will continue to do so, but we also need employees to to help us. There is one additional thing that was not mentioned to your question, chair Solis.

We're gonna change some of our ways of operating to address exactly what you just mentioned related to benefits. We in order to give the new employees an opportunity to sign up with the union for their benefits here on the county side, our rule was let's bring people in early in the month, and we could maximize the insurance that they already had with LASA, and we tried to bring people in by the tenth of every month. And so what we're going to do in June is that we will continue to bring people in no matter what, and so that rule of bringing people in in the first ten days, we will be bringing people in through the entire month, and then working in partnership with the union to have a process by which they sign up people immediately so that there's only a one month gap that we, the county, will take responsibility for, which we've already committed.

Okay. I know that there are folks that are gonna speak to us later on their concerns, but I'll move on to my other members, my colleagues. I have Supervisor Mitchell in the queue.

Thank you, thank you Madam Chair. And in our desire as a county board to be transparent, to ask for transparency of others, we have a responsibility to do the same. Whatever the city does, we have to acknowledge that the county was, as I understood it, about 44% or 45% of their overall budget. So when we pull that money out separate from the direct county employees, it's going have a destabilizing impact on the overall organization. So we just have to own that because that was the action the board took.

Is there a way and I hear you that we've got jobs and there are people who haven't applied. And so apply people. But can the invitation to the hiring fairs be extended to all LASA employees who have received the layoff notices? Is there a reason why we limit that invitation to just the 200 and some odd full time county funded and represented staff?

Our first priority is those folks who are county funded, course. As those positions start to get filled and as our commitment to those folks starts to become fulfilled, then we would reach out to the folks who are not necessarily county funded. So I would say that that is a second priority, but they would become more of a priority as we start to make our way through those folks who are county funded. And then I would add a third priority, if you will, which are folks who are not represented also. So eventually we might get to those folks But as the idea is to have this kind of a little bit of a tiered system so that we're prioritizing folks who are represented and county funded first.

Supervisor, let me add that I am sensitive to that dynamic, given the optics to infer that by us focusing on one targeted group that it may be inferred or assumed that the county is not concerned about other groups of employees employees within within LASA, and I'm very sensitive to that. As Johann stated, while the number one priority for us is to follow through on the board's commitment to bring that are represented and county funded. I will be the first to recommend to our interim CEO to come back to your board at such time that we complete that commitment, and we see that there are additional resources on the table and a window of opportunity to expand the scope of that commitment. And I just wanna assure the board of that.

I appreciate that. And I wasn't inferring a lack of sensitivity. I appreciate your opening remarks because anybody who's received that kind of notice never forgets that day. And having been an employer, having to issue those kind of notices, I'll never forget that day either. And so I get it, I absolutely do.

I just wanted to really understand and I think those WARN Act notice employees need to also understand that while the hiring fairs are one way in which we recruit, they should not simply be waiting for an invitation to hiring fair. There's other ways in which people every day search for jobs available within the county. And so I hope that they would consider doing that. As we talked about what the city's gonna do, we have no control over that. All we can control is what we have the power just like the city had no control over the action we took.

And so that's why I just thought it was really important that we talk about, that we acknowledge the role we played in this destabilizing. There's no way in a government agency, a business, a nonprofit organization that you remove that significant amount of funding from the overall organization that you not expect that it'd have impact organization wide, not just the county employees that we were funding. That would be naive at best to assume otherwise. So I just thought it was important to say. Again, we have no control over what the city will do.

So I appreciate hearing about the stage process. Appreciate you once again telling people we've got the positions, please come. I guess or if not, if people are choosing not to apply, then we need to know that too because then that could then perhaps expedite the move to the broader pool or whatever the case is. I mean, I'm not sure why people wouldn't be applying unless they have another plan and don't want to come work for respond in some way through an application or letting us know, am I off base there? Would that not be helpful to you?

That's absolutely helpful. And we absolutely will plan on doing that. And that opens up additional opportunities.

Right, thank you Madam Chair, appreciate it.

Thank you, Supervisor Horvath, thank you.

Thank you Madam Chair. I just have two questions, well three I guess. I'll start there. There's nothing that's preventing anyone at LASA or anywhere from applying to work at the county currently?

That's right.

Okay, so it is still an open process. I know that the same invitations that were sent to or acknowledgments that were sent to county funded position holders at LASA aren't being sent throughout LASA or anywhere else, but people can still apply?

Yeah, and we have any time we have any kind of open recruitment, we are forwarding those recruitments over to LASA as well as to SEIU so they're aware of the opportunities that are available throughout the county, our open competitive opportunities that are available to them.

My second question, I understand that the LASA list of the names of staff that was provided to you all has changed recently even though we've had months close to a year of meetings. So why is that changing? Why did that change? What what's going on there?

Supervisor, as as I understand it, LASA has indicated that they've added some executives onto the list as best we can. We couldn't get the additional names, so we don't know how many, and we don't know the positions. So what we all have and what's been reported is certainly the two eighty one, two eighty four number, but we understand it's closer to three and it may be a little bit over three. We're waiting to get more details from them.

And is there any information that you need now from LASA that you can't get that would help you support county funded LASA staff or anyone who's transitioning into these county positions?

I won't necessarily say that we can't get yet, but we may be coming back to answer that with with the can't. What I do think we need from them is the the appeals process. They need to work right now closely with the union to assess whether or not they got it right. We have seen some mistakes right on the list. And so what they need to do is we need them to assess the start dates of those employees, and to assess whether or not the actual individuals who have been placed on the layoff list are the right individuals.

Because we're doing a one by one look at these individuals, we're accepting resumes, we're analyzing those resumes, and then we're of course doing a matchup with what jobs are right for that person. So when they switch someone out, it may impact the jobs that we've aligned with one individual's particular skill set.

Supervisor, let me just add to that and just convey to this board more candidly that the single and largest risk that I see in this process is getting timely and accurate information from law school. I cannot stress the importance of accurate data that my team and Rodney's team needs in order to follow through on this board's commitment. I just wanted to add that to supplement Rodney's last response because I think that is a very important note for the record.

Yeah, my staff has been following this very closely. I know that there are county funded positions, people who hold county funded positions who didn't get a notice. I know that there are people who got notices who are not in county funded positions. Some positions that are funded by the federal government and that funding still exists. So while I acknowledge that the county has removed our funding from an agency that fails audits and has real trouble with fiscal management, this instability already and the instability is in that organization still.

And it's contributing to our inability to do what we need to do as a county to help safely transition people into positions that we are working to make available. And so I share the frustration that I'm sure we're going to hear because we are doing all we can as a county to come together and identify those positions. And we need this is a JPA. The county is one piece of it. LASA is an agency and the city is also a part of it.

And so all of us are LASA and all of us have to work together in this transition And yes, the county pulled that funding back, so we are creating and identifying positions for people to go into, but we also need that agency to tell us how we do that while they need to because they need to continue to do work as an agency themselves on behalf of the city or other things that they're doing. And not having that information I can appreciate is incredibly frustrating. I know our team has been frustrated by it. We've been trying to help navigate this and I appreciate all the work that you're doing to try and make sense of it.

Seeing no further questions from board members, then executive office let's go to phones and in person.

Will the following individuals come forward and staff will assist you? Head of Arden, Tiffany Duvernay Smith, Doctor. Critical Truth Bay, Kinsay Terzeev, and Richard Babino. Caller, Bianca Jackson, your line open. Please begin.

Hello. My name is Bianca Jackson, and I'm a represented LASA member. I'm one of the individuals that's been affected by the layoffs. That's gonna be happening June 30. I just wanna say that we even though we appreciate these hiring events, there are several lots of workers that haven't been able to interview or do meet and greets with certain departments because of lack of organization.

Hiring events have been announced last minute. Many of the jobs we applied for have not been represented at these events. A lot of us are having significant mental and emotional barriers and tolls with us being laid off. And so prevents us from adequately applying for positions, going to job fairs, different things like that. Thank you.

Thank you. Raymond of Shar, your line is open. Please begin.

I'm to share a frustration very quick with lack of clarity regarding this list that family funded or non family funded. I'm currently a lost employee. I received that sixty days notice. I'm on three positions on band one. Three positions of county jobs on Band 1. But DHR concierge told me that I'm not amongst the county finance position. Website of CEO feasibility shows that I am on the county finance position. And so there is a lack of clarity that is really prevent us from going forward in understanding how this work. I appreciate if someone can be clear on those

measures,

you know,

particularly housing location especially. On CEO office on the CEO website, feasibility form says that it is county fund. The HR said it's not. And generally, some clarity on how we go forward would be appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you. Caller with phone number 323380, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Lindsay, you did this to us. Why are line staff who are powerless in decision making getting laid off? Johan and Rodney, tell the supervisors how many non out non outreach staff have been offered a job at the county. The answer is zero. Why haven't you shared that number? Jeremy, we don't need your sob story. Last time I checked, you still have a job. Thank you.

Thank you. Jessica Ponce, your line is open. Please begin.

I'm a representative loss employee who received a layoff notice. I now have until the June to find a job or risk homelessness. I've been applying for months now in a horrible job market, 34 jobs, 12 rejections. I've utilized LA County's concierge service twice, attended the virtual job fairs and in person job fair. I've applied to 10 county jobs, some under my pay rate, and no response.

The media media has been reporting there are 254 identified jobs for lost employees, but identified is not the same as offered. I'm asking that you do the right thing and support a timely and fair transition into the county. Show up every day and do the work in a system that is very flawed, and we are not to be blamed for its shortcomings. We deserve better than to be discarded. Thank you.

Thank you. E. Abdelghani, your line is open. Please begin.

Reading on behalf of Luke Rivera Martinez, the son of a LASA employee who was, Yeni Rivera Martinez. I'm a 12 year old son of LASA employee. My mother became a part of the system when she escaped my father's violence without a with a baby of only nine months old. She had a decade long career with Marriott but lost it all to save my life. I've seen her make it her life mission to help other survivors and families, in need, sometimes working weekend or long nights.

My father ended up becoming homeless due to his addiction once we left, and sadly, he lives in the streets of Culver City. The only memories I make with him are when we go drop off clothes or blankets, but my mother has worked hard so that others who want to escape that life have a better chance of leaving it, probably in hopes my father will one day stop being homeless. Yet you're about to fire her or lay her off. You call it a layoff, but it's essentially firing her. You are about to put us at risk of being homeless ourselves. What kind of for the people leadership is this, and how am I supposed to look

on Thank you. Caller with phone number 949748, your line is open. Please state your name and begin.

Hello. K. I'm requesting the board of supervisors to please issue a formal memo to LASA outlining the layoff decision making logic. Based on our current understanding, the process appears to follow the union MOU, specifically reverse seniority. However, even our union stewards have indicated that the logic and its application are unclear.

Additionally, if there is confidence that all impacted staff will secure placement by July 1, we respectfully request reconsideration of a transition buffer. Even under optimistic assumptions, a buffer would provide a necessary safeguard for employees navigating this process and help ensure continuity and stability during the transition. I'm advocating on behalf of those who would wish to pursue county employment.

Thank you. Mitchell Quintanilla, your line is open. Please begin.

Hello Quintanilla and I've been the LASA employee for almost a year now. I worked in the provider world for the last five years and it is a sad time to see my colleagues being destroyed by the system that they were helping create, contribute and getting people off the streets. I know there is a promise of having a real transition plan, but I feel like we've undercut, under followed, and just been sold short of the things that work that we've done over the course of over ten years, over twenty years actually. And I feel like we're just gonna go in a deep reverse if we continue on this trajectory. Please, let's have a real transition plan, and let's value the workers that are here, that are on the front lines getting this work done in helping our citizens of LA County.

Thank you.

Thank you. Madam chair, there are no other remote speakers to address the board. Remote participation for set matter one is now concluded. We will go to in person speakers. Please begin.

My name is Heather. Varden. I'm a union steward and a member of the Regional Council. Lhasa workers are being pushed towards homelessness while doing the work to end it. That is unacceptable. The rushed timeline is failing workers. They had more than a year to figure this out and to date only 29 people have actually started at the county. Most offers still do not have start dates. The jobs are technically open but we are competing with the general public. I scored 100% on three exams and I'm still competing with six sixty five people for one position.

And these in person job fairs in Los Angeles with little to no notice are worthless. That's not prioritization. That's a broken promise. Really prioritize union represented LASA workers that's the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority get the list from the union not leadership. No gaps in pay, no gaps in benefits, real start dates, real stability and no workers left behind. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi. My name is Kinksy Campbell. My legal name is Kinksy Tarzeev. I'm here to speak on behalf of a citizen here in Los Angeles County who is standing in shelter in Los Angeles County, waiting on housing and paying $750 at a free homeless shelter. I don't understand why free homeless shelters are charging $750 for housing to share rooms with three other people.

And it just seems unfair that in order to get housing, you have to go through the channels that you for us. Out here in this Los Angeles County- all I know is that. The free shelter shouldn't be charging $750 a month. For rent.

You.

You. Next speaker please.

Hi. My name is Tiffany Duvernay Smith. I'm one of the people that got a layoff notice. When I looked at that report, my position is 13% funded by the county, and I'm calling on you, supervisor Horvath. You said all of us are LASA.

Supervisor Solis, I appreciate you and the sense of responsibility that you took for all of what's going on right now, and I appreciate you, supervisor Mitchell, talking about the ripple effect. I'm about to make my sixth mortgage payment. My story is from homeless to home owner. I'm scared. If the I'm the coordinator for the LAHSA's lived experience advisory board. If they have a 120,000 for leave in HIFU for next fiscal year, then why am I getting laid off? And if my position is being transferred under the new law firm, I was already hired for both boards. Why am I getting laid off? It's very confusing. We need your help.

Thank you. Next speaker please.

Greetings. My name is Doctor. Critical Truth Bay. I'm a policy analyst and I'm talking about on a service provider level. The homeless crisis itself apparently is affecting homeless workers and this is a $50,000,000,000 county.

Where is the hole? Why are people utilizing people's plight in homelessness as a 6 figure or even a 5 figure income and yet you have Skid Row, is less than a mile and a half away from here, full of tents, full of people that just need housing. As you heard, you have shelters that are charging homeless folks $750 a month. Lindsey Horvath, you are probably the most sane person on this panel, and I know there's a change that's going to happen soon. Sarah Mahan and this new homeless system you created, I still have yet to see it. So let's do better LA County.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

I've been using the concierge service since October. I have been to every job fair, every virtual meeting. I've sent over 10 applications. I have gotten rejection after rejection. This concierge service is worthless because it's not giving anyone jobs.

Your words ring hollow when you keep in mind that not a single LASA office worker has been offered or hired for the county. This board has failed us for mismanaging the transition of our funds to the county. This is not only going to negatively affect us as workers, but it's going to negatively affect every single person that lives in Los Angeles County. This board should be ashamed of themselves.

Thank you. Madam chair and members of the board, that concludes public comment on this item.

This report will be received and filed.

Hearing no objections, that will be the order.

Madam chair, we will now return to take

a vote on items not held for discussion. So the following items are before you, two through eleven, thirteen through sixteen, eighteen through 24, twenty seven and twenty eight, thirty thirty two through 37, 39 through 48, 49 with Supervisor Mitchell recusing herself from the vote, 51 through 82, 86, one d, these items are before you.

Thank you. Moved by Supervisor Hahn, seconded by Supervisor Mitchell to approve the items with the exceptions noted by the executive officer. Executive officer, please call the roll.

Supervisor Mitchell? Aye. Supervisor Mitchell? Aye. Supervisor Horvath? Aye. Supervisor Horvath? Aye. Supervisor Supervisor Han? Aye. Supervisor Solis? Supervisor Solis, aye. Motion carries, four to zero. Madam Chair, we will now vote on the separate matter, item number 87, which is before you.

Moved by visor Han, seconded by Supervisor Horvath. To approve the item, call the roll.

Supervisor Mitchell? Aye. Supervisor Horvath?

Aye.

Supervisor Horvath? Aye. Supervisor Han?

Aye.

Supervisor Hahn? Aye. Supervisor Solis? Aye. Supervisor Solis? Aye. Motion carries four to zero. We will now move on to item 31, creating action plan to address community concerns regarding housing facilities serving people Experiencing Homelessness, which was held by Supervisor Han. For members of the public joining us remotely to comment on this item, please use the raise hand feature if you are online or press 3 if on the telephone. Sarah Mahan, Director of Homeless Services and Housing is available for questions. For the departmental speaker, please state your name and title for the record when you address the board.

Supervisor Hahn. Thank you Madam Chair, and I see Sarah's here. I'm just going make some comments. I don't really have any questions for you, but maybe some of my colleagues do. Thank you, and thank you, Supervisor Mitchell, for co authoring this motion.

Today I'm bringing forward a motion that gets at something that we hear every day from our residents and something we all care about: how we continue to move people out of homelessness and into housing while also making sure our communities feel safe, feel heard, feel respected. Over the past year, Los Angeles County has taken a major step by establishing this new Department of Homeless Services and Housing. This department was created to bring greater coordination and accountability and focus on how we deliver housing and services to people experiencing homelessness. And that work is already underway by Director Sarah Mayan and her team. Thank you again for being here.

We know that interim housing, permanent supportive housing, and other service rich programs are essential. They're not just buildings, they're lifelines. They provide stability, healthcare access, case management, and a path forward to people who have nowhere else to turn. They help reduce the strain on our hospitals, emergency systems, and our streets, but as we expand these programs, we also have to acknowledge a reality. The success of these sites depends not only on the services inside them, but also on how they operate within the neighborhoods around them.

I've heard directly from residents and neighbors who want to be supportive, who understand the urgency of the crisis, but also have real concerns. They have concerns about safety, they have concerns about loitering, about encampments forming nearby, and about communication when issues do arise. And most recently, some of my residents in Unincorporated South have raised concerns over an interim housing site in that community. The site is surrounded by a library, community center, businesses, and residential homes. Residents sent emails and came to a community meeting, hosted by Ivan, raising such concerns.

And this is not unique to this community. I know that many times we encounter fear and uncertainty when we have these types of sites. And we can't ignore these concerns because if we do, we risk undermining public trust and we risk losing support for the very housing solutions we know we need. That's why this motion is about balance. It directs our Department of Homeless Services and Housing to work with the Sheriff's Department, Homeless Outreach Services team host, and our service providers and come back with a clear actionable plan in ninety days.

A plan to strengthen the on-site management, improve safety and supervision, and address issues like trespassing and unauthorized activity for our housing sites in the county. Just as importantly, it calls for a proactive strategy to address the encampments that often develop around these sites, ensuring outreach, services, and real pathways into housing while preventing those encampments from returning. This is not about stepping back from our commitment to housing, it is about doing a better job and being a good neighbor. It is about making sure that when we bring a housing program into a community, we're also bringing strong management, clear accountability, and open lines of communication. It's about making sure that neighbors feel like partners, not bystanders, in our work.

And ultimately, it's about strengthening the long term success of our homelessness response, which is something I know we all want. Because if we want to continue building the housing our county needs, we must build trust at the same time. And I think this motion moves us into that direction and I respectfully ask my colleagues for an I vote. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Supervisor Mitchell.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you Supervisor Hahn for including me as a co author in this motion and thank you for your comment about this motion is not about stepping back. Having subjected to a really ugly town hall meeting in my district just this past week where city leaders were present. Were present. So I appreciate your comment. We all know that housing paired with wraparound services ends homelessness for the people who enter that housing and having housing options throughout the entire county, I'll say it again, throughout the entire county is essential.

People say yes to coming indoors and staying housed when we have locations that meet their needs. And we cannot ignore the concerns we continue to hear from house residents, school leaders, and business owners about existing and potential sites in their neighborhoods. Where and for whom we build often becomes one of the most polarizing questions in our neighborhoods. As homeless services and housing was established and continues to build its new foundation, there has rightfully been a strong emphasis on centering people with lived experience of homelessness. House residents also have real experiences and concerns.

As Supervisor Hahn stated, young people walking to school and businesses that have their utilities tapped into or their entryway blocked. It's a problem. Those experiences also need to be a part of how HSH develops. We collectively don't have the privilege of just thinking about one segment of the population at a time. When we work with blinders on, that's how unintended consequences occur.

So this motion is about taking those blinders off and seeing the whole of our neighborhoods and the full community that lives around interim housing and public housing sites. So I've got a couple of questions. First for Sarah. During the engagement process for the new department, my question is how were housed residents and business owners engaged? How did you bring their voice into the development of the new department?

Thanks for the question, supervisor. On behalf of HSH, ChangeWell facilitated a countywide co design process for establishing the new department that engaged over 5,000 individuals across the county. Providers. It also included people with lived expertise, but also included just community leaders and tribal representatives. So, that was across all eight service planning areas.

House residents and businesses were engaged through the local homeless coalitions and by going to neighborhood council meetings. We also went tothere's an annual conference of neighborhood councils. We went to that. So, that is how residents were engaged in the community design process. And since HSH has launched, our team, including myself, have been spending more time going to round tables and meetings with associations and business representatives to be expanding our reach because we understand that. We need to be working with everybody, including people who are housed on the solutions around homelessness.

You just said it and it left my head, Lord have mercy. The entities at the city level that organize communities.

Neighborhood councils.

Neighborhood councils. Not a hard word, Holly. Neighborhood councils. People

who live

in the city of LA have the privilege of being represented on neighborhood councils. Our unincorporated communities do not with the exception of Ms. Barger who has her own system. How were you able to guarantee that businesses residents of unincorporated areas were proportionately represented in that 5,000?

We largely relied upon the homeless coalitions who have built out networks within their regions to help us bring people to the table. We have a system coordination team that's now attending all of the homeless coalition meetings to be ensuring that we have that direct relationship. And we're hiring now for the lead for the unincorporated areas position, and that position will certainly have a role with making sure that we're doing that in an equitable way.

And so, do you have a plan to have continued conversation? I'm hoping that that was not a one and done in terms of the engagement.

Yes.

And I'd like to be able to, those of us who represent significant unincorporated areas of which the 2nd District has, to be able to provide you names and organizations and community leaders. Many of whom may not have official titles but anyone who lives in that area knows who the shock collar is. So I'd like to be able to give you the list because as you have heard from me and my staff, we get a significant volume of calls and consistent engagement from house residents and business who feel that I should resign, I have done nothing, we've done nothing with regard to the unhoused. And as we continue to push you and the department to continue with our cleanups and Path way Home, to continue to address the RV issue, we're getting the calls and yet we now have a new department. And so I don't know if it was envisioned about how those calls would transition to you, in that you and the department are, in many instances, better positioned to talk about scheduled cleanups, to directly respond to constituents.

I would just encourage my colleagues and all of us to continue to think about how we build out the foundation of your department because I think those calls should be shifted to you. My understanding you and others feel differently, so we'll have to continue to have that conversation because the point is we don't want people to be pushed around. We want them to have immediate answers from the people who are empowered to give them an answer about when a resolution is gonna happen in front of their business or in front of their home or in their neighborhood. So I appreciate being invited to participate in today's motion. Again, we've got to build out across the entire county.

I'm a do my part, I hope everybody else does, really so we can meaningfully address people experiencing homelessness and make sure that we are building places for them to live. So thank you Supervisor Hahn for the invitation.

Thank you, Supervisor Horvath.

Thank you Madam Chair. I wanna thank the authors of this motion for identifying solutions to something that is emerging in just about every community. And I think the feedback certainly deserves action. I'm concerned that the motion potentially implies that host will now be deployed countywide, which it currently is not. I know that they are not the first responding agency for example for calls for service in the city of Los Angeles and perhaps other cities that don't have that kind of contract of arrangement with the county.

So I guess to Sarah, how do you intend in your report back to identify what role host will play and distinguish that for communities that might not benefit a host team? Or is the plan to expand host?

Thank you for the question. It's a good one and it was actually part of the discussion at cluster and an acknowledgement that in the report back, we would have to clarify where host has jurisdiction and in other areas like the city of Los Angeles, it's LAPD and it's not host. So, the protocols have to be specific to the jurisdiction where the site is in. I also think it's going to be important, and to your point, Supervisor Mitchell, earlier for us also to be clear and manage expectations around what we have capacity to do. And so I think that will be part of our report back as well.

Okay. Do you have any sense that other jurisdictions where host is not currently deployed are looking to develop a host like counterpart for their respective jurisdiction?

I am not. I know that the city of LA, LAPD used to have a host like division and it no longer exists. I'm not aware of others, but I can talk with our sheriff colleagues.

Colleagues. I just ask that because I know that law enforcement plays a different role than our service providers but and the host team even plays a different role than traditional foot patrol. And the host team I think does an incredible job of through their trauma informed work and through their specific training to respond differently to calls for service, to develop relationship with people who are unhoused. And if they're being deployed, I have much greater confidence than if traditional law enforcement is going to be deployed. And I'm concerned that what we're saying here is step up law enforcement as an action in other communities that don't benefit from host.

And so is that the message that we're sending? Or what is the plan for jurisdictions where law enforcement will be their only option?

I think we'll have to take a look at that and I think you're raising a really important point. And we know that Host does do training for other jurisdictions, so that can be part of our analysis when we're looking at a jurisdiction by jurisdiction approach, which ones does Sheriff partner with for that same type of training that we know helps to address problems but in a problem solving approach, a solution oriented approach.

Okay, will look forward to the report back because I think that's what this is directing. I'm concerned about mixed messaging and if the goal is to expand host countywide, I'm interested in that because I do think that they do a very good job and that the way they are trained is responsible and appropriate for the kind of need, that we're we're talking about. So if that's the goal, then I'm interested in that. But, you know, if if what we're now saying is we're encouraging other jurisdictions to start arresting homeless people because law enforcement is their tool, I'm concerned about that. And so I'm hearing what at least one of the authors say that's not what the message is.

But I just wanna state it for the record clearly so that way we are very clear about that.

Thank you. I just want to thank you, Supervisor Hana Mitchell, for also introducing the motion. In any situation, sometimes our communities, especially in the unincorporated area, which I understand often is not fully made aware in terms of when we have placement of interim housing or mixed housing and affordable and all of that. And it is a challenge. And it just tells me that we have to continue to do a lot more outreach, and not just with your department because I know you're doing your best, but we rely a lot very heavily on those providers.

And the providers can also be a mixed bag and sometimes they don't fully provide clarity recipients and what are the rules, what are the things that have to be followed. And that, just one instance, can create fallout for an entire community and all the good things that we've done just go down, just go down. And that for me is heartbreaking. I don't wanna see that happen. So I think there are probably two things to do.

One is to have meaningful discussions with the providers because what are those checks and balances there? How are they also talking to the surrounding cities and the municipality, but also if it isn't the sheriffs, then if it's the local PD. I do know in some of my own cities incorporated that they do have teams. Not all cities do, but some do. And maybe that's a discussion to start having.

How do they handle that? Because I know the city of Belmonte has a team. They have a big police department and they have people that are trained to de escalate, to know how to talk to the homeless and people that are out on the street. And I think we could benefit from some of that. So two levels, one is think about what Host is a good model.

I've always been supportive of them, always. But I know that the sheriff doesn't have enough funding nor do we. But I think that others, other cities, could start to look at how they can start working with developing through their own PD, or if they don't in their contract city, then maybe start pitching in to that effort. That's something that I would strongly encourage, and I'm sure the sheriff may, I don't know, I won't speak for them, but perhaps there's a way of getting, those folks engaged since we're gonna be coming up with a contract cities convention. People should start to talk about these things.

And then just the other thing is just making sure that our providers, that we're together on a lot of things and that we as supervisors even know what, is happening. Because I think that's important when we get calls. My staff isn't aware oftentimes what the protocols are with some of the major providers in our district and it varies and that can create problems moving forward. So I think those are some things that I'd like to see happen. I know your staff is working very hard with ours, and we continue in the unincorporated areas to get calls and concerns about unhoused populations around some of our interim housing centers, and we do have to do a better job there, and I know that one's gonna be hard because of limited funding, but I think we've gotta find some way.

We really do have to find a way to get there, and not just point the finger at you either, because this is a whole host of things that we have to try to monitor and work together. I think there's ways of even getting our COGs involved, Council of Governments. They get funding, special funding from Sacramento and us, from Measure A. How can we direct, I don't wanna say overstep, but giving them some ideas, look, these are things that can work for you. And start giving that, boilerplate language of what works, and then having people come and talk to them, where it has proven to be foolproof, or at least halfway foolproof.

So I would just encourage that, but thank you for the work and the work that your staff do out in our unincorporated areas. Thank Okay, seeing no other members wishing to speak on this, let's go to public comment.

Will the following individuals please come forward and staff will assist you? Doctor. Critical Truth Bay, Kingse Terzeev, and Richard Babino. Roy Humphries, your line is open. Please begin.

Thank you. And, to this situation that the county has failed miserably in getting all of the parties to the to the party and acting there was consistent as we've noted on my YouTube channel and well, sheriff's department did this weekend. This lack of continuity and cut again consequences for failure to comply with the rules and regulations. Until such time, we're gonna have what we have in Rowland Heights as treated as a ghetto by the sheriff's department, and we don't deserve it. You need to get to and these people with and so forth, they they knew what was going on all the time. So it it's sad but the little guys get hurt while the big guys get away. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam chair, there are no other remote speakers to address the board. Remote participation for item 31 is now concluded. We will go to in person speakers. Please begin.

Hi, Ms. Sarah Mahan. I need your email address, ma'am. Ever since you've been in this position, we have 14 service providers that have proposals they sent to your, I think it was DHS or your previous email. So that's the first step.

I don't know if you're instructed not to contact the public, but this today could have been prevented if you communicate with the service providers that have plans such as RV parks, such as temporary housing, all of these things which would mediate for the issues. So my name is doctor Truth Bay, and I want you to remember my face because I'm being nice about it today on how we are being transparent to the public. We need your email address, and you need to communicate with the service provider so we actually house the homeless because I work every day in Skid Row while, again, providing the simple services that you and your new department should be providing. I appreciate you. I'm sure you're a nice lady but this is business right Thank you.

You. That concludes public comment on item 31.

Item 31 is before you.

Moved by Supervisor Hahn, seconded by Supervisor Mitchell to approve the item. Executive Officer, please call the roll.

Supervisor Mitchell? Aye. Supervisor Mitchell, aye. Supervisor Horfath? Aye. Supervisor Horfath, aye. Supervisor Hahn?

Aye.

Supervisor Han, aye. Supervisor Solis? Aye. Supervisor Solis, aye. Motion carries. We will now move on to item 12, motion to proclaim May 4 through 05/11/2026 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Week throughout Los Angeles County, which was held by supervisor Horfath. For members of the public joining us remote to comment on this item, please use the raise hand feature if you're online or press 3 if on a telephone.

Thank you. Supervisor Horvath, you're recognized.

Thank you Madam Chair and thank you for co authoring this motion with me. I appreciate your commitment on this issue and, I'm glad to be proclaiming, May, as an awareness week, although the awareness, is quite tragic. It is the missing and murdered indigenous peoples throughout Los Angeles Angeles County. And it's heartbreaking that we even have to do this, but it is necessary because we must educate our community about this tragedy. Back in September, I met with young people from the nonprofit, Puku Community Services,

who are

enrolled in Tuchinq Power Fellowship. They spoke about the struggles with high rates of assault, abduction, and murder of tribal members, and the urgent need to bring more awareness to the MMIP crisis. Their families and communities continue to have conversations about these realities, and I am grateful for their advocacy and persistence in seeking justice and truth for those who are missing and murdered, and for taking the personal time to educate me and my staff about the issues that are experienced by residents in our own district and throughout Los Angeles County. We know this stems from a legacy of generations of government policies of forced removal, land seizure, and violence inflicted on native peoples. What we don't know is the full picture of the problem.

Serious data gaps, including systemic underreporting and frequent racial misclassification, make it impossible to establish an accurate nationwide count of missing and murdered indigenous people. This issue is further compounded by a significant lack of mainstream media coverage and inconsistent logging of reports into national databases. And to that end, I wanna thank our local CBS for allowing me to talk about this issue yesterday morning, and we will continue to raise awareness through all of our media partners who will be willing partners. I especially wanna thank assembly member James Ramos, the first California native American state lawmaker, for the progress that he made in being able to address the disproportionate rates of violence and disappearance through the creation of the Feather Alert. Feather Alert is an emergency notification system activated by the California Highway Patrol to help locate missing indigenous people in California.

If a tribal member or tribal authority believes that there is a missing indigenous person who might meet the criteria for a feather alert, they should immediately contact local law enforcement. Every member of the community can play an important role in a feather alert. If you have information about one that occurred, call 911 immediately to report it. Even the smallest piece of information can be the piece that leads to a successful recovery. We're grateful to stand alongside our community partners and our Los Angeles City County Native American Indian Commission in uplifting missing and murdered murdered indigenous people awareness, including indigenous circle of wellness, Shou'o Shin'ale, sister project, the chapter house, Red Nation Celebration Institute, and I know there are others who are joining in this work.

I want you all to know that the county stands in remembrance and in solidarity. Solidarity. We honor their lives, uplift survivors, and recognize the ongoing impacts of colonial violence that make indigenous people, especially women and girls, two spirit and LGBTQ plus relatives, disproportionately vulnerable. And I join them today in wearing red on 05/05/2026 in solidarity with survivors and to raise awareness. And this, cloak that I'm wearing that is red was given to me as part of a Native American tradition that we celebrated in West Hollywood at our park.

It was a practice of healing and I treasure this and wear it now in remembrance of the work that we have yet to do for the community, and commit myself to this work and I know our board members will as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Horvath, and thank you for allowing me to coauthor this with you. This is a really important motion before us because we're talking about real people and real families and a crisis that has gone on for too long, for many, many centuries. Native American and Alaska native women and girls continue to face violence at deeply alarming rates, and too often their disappearances are not met with the same kind of immediate and coordinated response that any family deserves when someone goes missing. And this is not a one one issue in isolation. It shows up alongside other forms of violence, domestic abuse, sexual assault, trafficking, that compound the harm and make people even more vulnerable.

What is especially painful is how many of these cases never get resolved. Families are left waiting, sometimes for years without answers, without closure, and without confidence that everything possible was done. That weighs heavily on communities and weighs heavily on all of us. Here in LA County, we have a particular responsibility. We are home to the largest Native American and Alaskan Native population in this country, and that means we can't treat this as something distant or abstract.

And here, now, the moment in time, it demands us to take a serious response. We need systems that can move quickly when someone goes missing. We need better communication, and less delay between when a report comes in and when action is taken. Tools like feather alert are critical, but they only work if they are understood and used consistently and supported across by all partners. This motion is about making sure that that happens and that we are all just not recognizing the crisis, but actually doing something to improve it and to respond to it.

And for that, I also wanna thank the sheriff and his team for engaging in this work and for being open to looking at how we can strengthen and implement a tracking system moving forward. That kind of collaboration matters because at the end of the day, this is about getting people home safely and not losing time when every minute counts. We owe our native families more than just recognition. We owe them urgency, accountability, and action that matches the seriousness of what they are living through. Thank you. And with that, I'll recognize Supervisor Mitchell.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you Supervisor Horvath for bringing the motion forward. This crisis, the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous peoples and women, it's been overlooked and met with systemic neglect from my perspective for far too long. I think it's critical that we call out and acknowledge the disparity, that we don't gloss over that. Because when we gloss over it, we don't acknowledge the role systemic racism plays in the systemic failures. It's important that I wanna raise that point because there's a current denial rate of approximately 60% of feather alert requests statewide and it raises the question about both the local and state level decision making process that leads to the rejections.

Several advocates and tribal leaders have raised concerns that misclassification of ethnicity and race can lead to the rejection of feather alert requests. I hope it is that and not much more in terms of a denial of the validity of the concerns raised by family members, which is why the feather alert was created in the first place. They've also raised concerns about the lack of cultural competency when assessing whether the circumstances of a disappearance are sufficiently suspicious to merit a feather alert. So I am looking forward to supporting the motion. I'm clear that these barriers barriers are not harmless and they should be addressed meaningfully with clear eyes and true commitment.

Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Supervisor Hahn, you're recognized. Recognized.

Yes, thank you Madam Chair, and thank you to yourself and Supervisor Horvath for introducing this motion. I too am wearing red today in solidarity. This is not just a public safety issue, it's a public health, equity, and systems coordination issue. Naming this awareness week is foundational to advancing equity and repairing trust, and I appreciate that this motion builds on prior efforts. In 2021, supervisor Solis, you and I authored a motion to acknowledge and apologize for the historic mistreatment of California native Americans by Los Angeles County.

That work led to the county's first land acknowledgment, developed in partnership with our LA City County Native American Indian Commission, and marked an important shift toward ongoing collaboration with native communities in policy, in planning, and decision making, ensuring indigenous voices shape how this history is told and honored. Indigenous communities are not only part of our history, they are vital to our present and our future, and this commitment to missing and murdered indigenous peoples must continue through action, through better coordination, improved data, and sustained partnership with indigenous communities to ensure that no one is ever overlooked. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no further comments from my colleagues, let's go to public comment.

Will the following individuals please come forward and staff will assist you? Doctor. Kritiko Truthbe, Pamela Villa Senor, Ethan Molina, Joey Williams, and Jack Ochoa. Madam Chair, there are no remote speakers who have signed up to speak on this item. Remote participation for item 12 is now concluded. We will go to in person speakers. Please begin.

My name is Pamela Villa Senor. I'm a citizen of Fernandeno Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and in 2021, I was working in tribal government when you all were working on the land acknowledgment. I want to thank you for that and the subsequent work the county is uplifting. Today, honor missing and murdered indigenous peoples here in the county Los Angeles including my homelands of Northern Los Angeles County and MMIP is a reality that carries grief but also resilience for our peoples, for all of our organizations and tribes who are working statewide to address this and of course having a California native in state legislature who's pushing through systemic changes for us. But here in Los Angeles, we are the largest Native American community in the country and we are working to make sure that gaps in data are addressed and appreciate your support for our community and missing and murdered indigenous peoples.

Thank you. Next speaker please.

Ethan Molina. Hi everyone, my name is Ethan Molina. I'm currently the president of the American Indian Student Association at Cal State Northridge. And I wanna first off start by saying thank you because as somebody who's almost been abducted about three times, specifically in Pacoima, this is something that has impacted me and I'm very grateful for a lot of these opportunities just because without information and people being able to locate indigenous people, being able to have community look out for us for community, we wouldn't be able to be in these positions of being able to keep a lot of our cultures, languages alive if there's no people being held accountable for trying to abduct and doing heinous and horrible things to indigenous people. So thank you, for everybody who's here, and have a nice day, bye bye.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Jack Ochoa and also my family call me Joaquin. I'm actually born and raised in East LA Unincorporated, 90022. This one in particular is very, very important to me. Great grandmother was hidden as an indigenous woman because when I asked my mom about our heritage, she threw me out of the house because she was worried about that the cops were gonna come and take us.

So this one, very, very important to us. Think as a community, we need to identify these individuals that disappear. It's not right. We need to find a way to do a study. In fact, the indigenous groups in Mexico are currently they met in council a couple of days ago to talk about this exact topic. So you're right on the edge of exactly what a whole country in Mexico is doing to find these women that disappeared, like my grandmother that was hidden. Luckily, nothing happened to her, but we need to do this.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Joey Williams. I'm a member of the Kern Valley Indian community, but a descendant of Gapolinos. I'm very proud of the youth who I have the privilege of working with at PUCU Interchange Power Fellowship And their bold courage, I mean, thank you, Supervisor Horvath, for taking the lead on this and starting one of many meetings that I'm hoping, as we highlight the epidemic of MMIP and our responsibility and utilizing the resources that we have, working with the community to build trust with the sheriff's department and the CHP to be able to activate these important resources. But I know that we're building on the important work of our partners. I wanna recognize the indigenous circle of wellness, Shoshanali Sister Project, and our brothers and sisters from the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians who are here with us today as well.

So I know we have a lot of work to do, but I'm very proud of our teaching power, Fellowship and youth, and taking this important step with you, Supervisor Horvath, and look forward to continued meetings, sixty the day report and the one year follow-up with the sheriff's department on this. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker please.

Yes, so I want to just say bravo again for another initiative. When it comes to missing indigenous people, that's something again, a one week is not enough. It should be a whole at least a month. You know what I mean? It's it's kind of insulting, but at the same time, we we gotta start somewhere.

So a lot of my family members represent this Chumash Nation. So I'm grateful to see at least an initiative that really focuses on especially the women and the youth of indigenous people. I mean, of really a lot of nations but to see an agenda that's focusing on solving the issue and really advocating for them, I commend you and I wanna say thank you for putting this initiative. But let's make it more than a week. Let's do at least a month. Kudos to you, thank you.

Thank you. Madam Chair and members of the board, that concludes public comment on this item.

Item 12 is before you.

Moved by Supervisor Horvath, I will second to approve the item. Executive Officer, please call the roll.

Supervisor Mitchell?

Aye.

Supervisor Mitchell, aye. Supervisor Horfath? Aye. Supervisor Horfath? Aye. Supervisor Hahn? Aye. Supervisor Hahn, aye. Supervisor Solis?