Council President Harris-Dawson presided over a 100-item agenda on the last regular meeting before summer recess. Fourteen of 15 members were present for most votes; Council Member Price was absent for the afternoon's charter-reform votes. The council paused twice to convene separate special/closed sessions: one regarding a significant litigation threat related to the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), from which there was nothing to report out, and a second, brief special meeting authorizing outside counsel for Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association litigation (covered in the separate summary for Meeting 18451, which shares this recording).
The council confirmed two mayoral appointments without opposition: Crystal Lee as the city's first female City Engineer (Item 37, CF 26-0839, 14-0) and Joon Kim-Lopez as Executive Director of the Bureau of Sanitation (Item 36, CF 26-0892, 14-0). It certified the results of the June 2, 2026 primary nominating and special elections (Item 90, CF 26-1100, 14-0) and authorized a Fashion District Business Improvement District ballot tabulation. A large consent block covering dozens of nuisance-abatement liens, alcohol-license public-convenience findings, state-bill position resolutions, homelessness- and street-services funding motions, and LAX Terminal 4 concession agreements passed 14-0 without individual debate, as did the Environmental Impact Report and permit approvals for the 400 South Central Avenue "Fourth and Central" mixed-use housing project (Item 42, CF 26-0047, amended by Council Member Jurado and passed 14-0), which drew extensive supportive public comment from building trades and housing advocates.
LAPD charter-reform amendment sent to committee on a contested 8-6 roll call. Item 97 (CF 26-1100-S17), a charter amendment giving the city council authority over general LAPD policy, was the subject of a motion by Council Member McOsker to refer it back to the Ad Hoc Committee on Charter Review rather than vote on it before recess. Council Members Soto-Martinez and Hernandez objected, wanting a vote that day, and a roll call was taken on the referral motion itself. The official record shows the motion to refer passed 8-6: voting yes (to send the item to committee, effectively shelving it before the November ballot deadline) were Harris-Dawson, Hutt, Lee, McOsker, Nazarian, Park, and Rodriguez; voting no (to force a vote that day) were Hernandez, Jurado, Padilla, Raman, Soto-Martinez, and Yaroslavsky. Soto-Martinez argued the proposal had already been studied through the charter reform commission and rules committee and posed no "meet and confer" issue with police unions, as the City Attorney had confirmed; Hernandez said the council was "just asking for a little bit of a voice at the table" on department policy, not discipline or operations. Extensive public comment preceded the vote, including from a mother whose son was killed by LAPD during a mental health crisis, and organizers with Black Lives Matter Grassroots who argued the council was "scared of the Los Angeles Police Protective League."
Non-citizen voting-rights amendments referred to committee, unanimously. Items 94 and 98 (CF 26-1100-S14 and CF 26-1100-S18), charter amendments that would allow the council to extend voting eligibility in city and LAUSD elections respectively to non-citizen residents, were sent back to the Ad Hoc Committee on Charter Review on a motion by Council Member Lee, seconded by Council Member Park, passing 14-0. Lee and Park argued the measure had not been vetted by the charter reform committee, cited unresolved legal questions from the City Attorney about a future council's authority to implement it by ordinance, and reviewed non-citizen voting measures in San Francisco, Santa Ana, and Oakland that took years of study or ran into implementation and litigation problems. Council Member Soto-Martinez, the item's chief proponent, ultimately accepted the referral as a "friendly amendment," saying that while immigrant-rights organizations supported moving forward, he had not done sufficient outreach to the Black community, some of whom had raised concerns in letters to the council, and wanted the eventual measure's passage to be "a celebration that brings black TPS recipients, Afro Latinos, and Latinos together."
Parks funding charter amendment passed 13-1 after a protest amendment on other departments. Item 95 (CF 26-1100-S15), sponsored by Council Member Rodriguez, would amend the charter to double the Department of Recreation and Parks' share of the general fund over 10 years, with a provision allowing the set-aside to be reduced by up to 30% during a fiscal crisis. Council Member Blumenfield, while supporting more parks funding, introduced an amendment (95A) arguing the same "ballot box budgeting" logic should apply to other underfunded priorities, proposing the charter also guarantee at least 15% of the general fund to the Fire Department, $100 million annually for ADA curb-ramp compliance, police staffing at parity with the ten largest U.S. cities, $40 million annually for unarmed crisis response, $150 million annually for mobility improvements, $125 million annually for street lighting, and a five-to-six-year tree-trimming cycle. An unidentified council member offered a friendly amendment replacing the police-staffing provision with funding for LA Animal Services, seconded and supported by Council Member Rodriguez. Rather than receiving an up-or-down vote, the amended 95A was sent to the Rules Committee without objection. Council Member Park voted for the underlying parks measure "over significant reservations," saying the council "cannot keep carving up our general fund one ballot measure at a time," while Council Member Yaroslavsky, as budget chair, defended the item's flexibility provision as sufficient safeguard. The underlying Item 95 then passed 13-1.
Other charter amendments advanced with technical amendments. Items 91 (Infrastructure, Budget, Finance, and Contracting, CF 26-1100-S11), 92 (Department of City Planning, CF 26-1100-S12), 93 (Ethics, Elections, and Governance, CF 26-1100-S13), 96 (proprietary departments, CF 26-1100-S16), and 99 (LAUSD campaign finance rules, CF 26-1100-S19) each passed with one or more technical floor amendments, mostly by votes of 12 or 13 in favor with no recorded no votes, and will require a second reading during recess since they were not unanimous. Item 93 was amended, at Council Member Blumenfield's suggestion, to require the council to "hold regular meetings at least weekly" rather than simply "weekly." A representative of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association testified against a workforce-impact-disclosure provision reportedly included in the charter package, saying it would create project delays without clear standards.
Item 86 (state legislative position) passed 11-3, over Hernandez, Jurado, and Soto-Martinez's objection. A resolution establishing the city's support for Assembly Bill 1941, targeting organized and repeat offenders who steal or traffic prohibited metal materials (CF 26-0002-S11), passed 12-2 on the initial roll call; Council Member Hernandez then asked to be recorded as a no vote, and the clerk noted the change to 11-3 did not affect the outcome. The official record confirms the final tally as 11-3, with Hernandez, Jurado, and Soto-Martinez opposed; the transcript does not state their reasons.
This was the council's last chance before recess to finalize which charter reforms reach the November ballot, and on the two most consequential items to political organizing constituencies — LAPD civilian policy authority and non-citizen voting rights — the council chose delay over an up-or-down vote. Council Member Soto-Martinez, closing the meeting, said he was "never more embarrassed to be a member of the city council," listing city council expansion, ranked-choice voting, LAPD reform, and independent oversight/controller strengthening as reforms the body had "killed one by one" over the course of the charter review process. The 8-6 roll call on Item 97 is the clearest record of where individual members stood on police-oversight authority heading into the recess.
Public comment ran long and was dominated by three organized pushes: police accountability and the LAPD charter amendment, drawing repeated testimony from Black Lives Matter Grassroots organizers and family members of people killed by LAPD; non-citizen voting rights, with speakers identifying as TPS holders, DACA recipients, and community organizers with immigrant-rights groups; and parks funding, with speakers from the Echo Park Advisory Board, Friends of Griffith Park, Clock Shop, and Salt Landscape Architects urging the council to pass the Item 95 charter amendment without further delay. Building-trades and housing advocates (IBEW Local 11, Inner City Law Center, Little Tokyo Community Council, the Housing Action Coalition) testified in support of the Fourth and Central housing project. Several fast-food workers, organizing with Fast Food Justice and Starbucks Workers United, described wage theft and retaliation and urged the council to advance a "Fair Work" ordinance requiring know-your-rights training. A representative of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association opposed a workforce-disclosure provision in the charter package. Other public comment, including from several repeat callers, consisted of unrelated, abusive, or performative remarks not connected to agenda items and is not summarized here.
Tallies and member votes are the official record (LA City Clerk CVVS). Descriptions are drawn from the meeting transcript.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (11) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park |
| No (3) | Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Ysabel Jurado |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (8) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, John Lee, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park |
| No (6) | Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Imelda Padilla, Katy Yaroslavsky, Nithya Raman, Ysabel Jurado |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |