The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday took a crucial step toward restoring county funding for initiatives to help keep people out of jail.
The board voted 3-0 to include a county charter amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot that would reverse the inadvertent striking down of funds for alternatives to incarceration approved under a 2020 ballot measure called Measure J. Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose vote was incorrectly recorded as in favor initially, abstained, and Supervisor Holly Mitchell was absent.
In 2024, county voters approved Measure G, which amended the charter to make sweeping changes to county government, including by creating a powerful new elected county executive position and expanding the Board of Supervisors from five to nine members. Those changes will roll out in the coming years.
Supervisors have heralded Measure G as a transformative move that will modernize county government and reduce the concentration of power among the board’s members.
But the measure also included language that had the unintended consequence of repealing Measure J, which requires that 10% of unrestricted, locally generated county funds — which amounted to about $288 million in fiscal year 2025 — go toward jail diversion programs. Those programs include mental health treatment, housing support, youth development and other social services.
The mistake was discovered by a member of the county’s governance reform task force, which was in charge of the implementation of Measure J. Due to an administrative error, county attorneys never added the measure’s language to the county’s charter after it was approved by 57% of voters in 2020. As a result, the passage of Measure G repealed Measure J.
The repeal was slated to go into effect in December 2028. The charter amendment ballot measure approved Tuesday would avoid that result and restore the inadvertently repealed funding.
The repeal of Measure J generated scrutiny from both members of the board and organizations that support reducing the reliance on incarceration in L.A. County. Many such groups advocated for the restoration of Measure J, arguing that it was necessary to serve the will of the voters and provide crucial alternatives to the carceral system.
“Correcting this administrative oversight is essential to ensuring our Charter accurately reflects the law. Good governance means honoring the will of the voters, and building a County government people can trust,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement earlier this month.
In a statement Tuesday, Barger said she abstained on grounds that the county shouldn’t “tie the hands of future Boards through mandated funding requirements.”
“I believe the Board must retain the flexibility to make budget decisions based on community needs and priorities,” Barger said.
