City Committee Recommends Measures and Propositions City Should Officially Endorse or Oppose, Remains Silent About Measure H Rent Control

The Pasadena City Council’s Legislative Policy Committee will report Monday on its recommendations on a number of policy issues – local, country, and state – that will be on the ballot in the November 8 election.

By tradition, the Legislative Policy Committee reviews all ballot measures against the City’s adopted legislative platform, and decides if the City should take a formal position on any of the measures. 

The Committee discussed the measures during a meeting on Sept. 27 and came up with the resulting recommendations.

An Agenda Report for Monday’s City Council shows that on the local measures, the Committee will recommend supporting Measure L, which would maintain a special revenue source for Pasadena Public Library programs and services, as well as Measure PCC, a Pasadena Area Community College District general obligation bond measure that would authorize $565 million in locally-controlled funding for college upgrades.

Among the Los Angeles County measures on the ballot, the Legislative Policy Committee will recommend opposing Measure A, a Charter amendment that would allow the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, by a four-fifths vote, to remove an elected sheriff from office for cause. “For cause” is defined to include violation of laws related to the sheriff’s duties, repeated neglect of the sheriff’s duties, misuse of public funds or properties, willful falsification of documents, or obstruction of an investigation into the Sheriff’s Department’s conduct.

The Committee will recommend that the City Council support County Measure C, which would allow Los Angeles County to impose a general tax on cannabis businesses in the unincorporated areas. Revenues produced by this general tax will be directed to the County’s General Fund.

Among the state measures on the ballot, the Legislative Policy Committee says it is recommending support for State Proposition 1, which would amend the California Constitution to expressly establish a right to reproductive freedom. The amendment states, “The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”

It is also recommending support for State Proposition 31, a measure that would uphold a ban on the sale of most flavored tobacco products and tobacco product flavor enhancers. A “No” on Prop 31 would overturn the law and legalize the sale of flavored tobacco products in California.

The Agenda Report said the Legislative Policy Committee does not have recommendations for the remaining state propositions: Propositions 26 and 27, which covers in-person and online or mobile sports wagering on tribal lands; Proposition 28, which would open additional funding opportunities for arts or music education in public schools; Proposition 29, which would require at least one licensed medical professional on-site at dialysis clinics; and Proposition 30, which would assist programs to reduce air pollution and wildfires by increasing taxes on personal income over $2 Million.

The report said the Committee did not discuss Measure H, the local rent control voter initiative. On Aug. 8, the City Council approved placing Measure H on the November ballot and then took a separate action to adopt a neutral position on the measure, the report said.