LA County Board

18. Ballot Transparency and Consistency: Providing Voters with a Fiscal and\nProgrammatic Analysis on County Ballot Measures\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Mitchell and Barger: Instruct the\nAuditor-Controller, in collaboration with the Chief Executive Officer, County\nCounsel, and all appropriate County Department Heads, and no later than 88\ndays before an election that includes a Countywide ballot measure, to review\nthe measure and determine if the substance of the County ballot measure, if\nadopted, would affect the revenues or expenditures of the County, and prepare\na fiscal impact statement which estimates the amount of any increase or\ndecrease in revenues or costs to the County if the proposed measure is\nadopted, the fiscal impact statement is “official matter” within the meaning of\nSection 13303 of the California Elections Code and shall be printed preceding\nthe arguments for and against the measure on the sample ballot, and may not\nexceed 500 words in length, this directive applies to the November 2024\nGeneral Election and all elections thereafter, and if needed, those Department\nHeads may use their existing delegated authorities and budget to engage a\ncontractor to assist with this work; and take the following actions:\nConsistent with all applicable laws and regulations pertaining to elections,\ninstruct the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk to create a process and\nformat for dissemination of the information to the public in all threshold\nlanguages;\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk,\nAuditor-Controller, and County Counsel, for elections following the\nNovember 2024 General Election, in addition to the directions spelled out\nabove, to also include in the sample ballot, the fiscal analysis and\nprogrammatic analysis/impact, a Yes/No vote summary, and other\nrelevant programmatic and fiscal impact information, as permitted by\nState law, if needed, those Department Heads may use their existing,\nrelevant delegated authorities and budget to engage a contractor (or work\nwith existing contractors) to assist with this work; and\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer, in collaboration with the\nRegistrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Auditor-Controller, and County\nCounsel, to conduct an analysis informed by stakeholder engagement\n(including other County Departments, community organizations, and\nrelevant non-partisan experts) to improve the process for the 2026 and\nfuture election cycles, including identifying which other measure types\nqualify for this process. (24-2960)