EE

Why Thrive LA opposes EE

Measure EE is a City Charter amendment packaged as ethics and governance reform. It bundles several unrelated changes into a single ballot question: strengthening the independence of the LAPD Inspector General and LAFD Independent Assessor, imposing a five-year cooling-off period before Ethics Commissioners can run for city office, raising maximum campaign finance penalties from $2,000 to $15,000 per violation, reducing the City Council's minimum meeting requirement from three days per week to just once per week, and raising the signature threshold for citizen referendum petitions from 10% to 15% of votes cast in the last mayoral election. Some of these provisions are reasonable on their own. Preventing police and fire commissions from blocking Inspector General investigations is a genuine improvement. Higher penalties for campaign finance violations bring enforcement closer to meaningful deterrence. And a cooling-off period for Ethics Commissioners seeking office closes an obvious revolving door. But the measure buries two significant governance rollbacks inside a package designed to look like reform. Reducing Council meeting requirements from three days per week to one gives the City Council permission to do less legislative work with less public scrutiny. Los Angeles is a city of four million people with a $13 billion budget. Cutting the minimum floor for Council sessions is a step backward for transparency and accountability, not forward. More troubling is the 50% increase in referendum petition signature thresholds. The referendum is one of the few tools residents have to challenge bad ordinances after the Council passes them. Raising the bar from 10% to 15% makes it materially harder for ordinary Angelenos to hold their elected officials accountable. That is not ethics reform. It is incumbent protection. When good policy is bundled with provisions that reduce citizen power and legislative accountability, the responsible vote is no. Voters should reject Measure EE and demand these proposals come back as separate, honest questions.