A measure on the November ballot aims to overhaul Los Angeles’ approach to infrastructure.
If passed, Charter Amendment LA would modify the city’s charter to establish a capital infrastructure plan – which other cities use to construct and maintain infrastructure including roads, sidewalks, parks and other public structures – and stretch the city’s one-year budget cycle to two years.
The measure would also expand the authority of the director of the public works department, enable the LA City Council to eliminate or make changes to the Board of Public Works, loosen regulations on choosing third-party contractors for critical infrastructure projects and grant the city permission to mortgage its properties and engage in commercial business.
Charter Amendment LA would require the city to spend roughly $4 million to $6 million in one-time costs to upgrade budget and asset management systems, train staff and consult experts, according to a voter information pamphlet produced by the city. The measure comes after Mayor Karen Bass unveiled LA’s first Capital Infrastructure Program in May 2026, which lists 10 recommendations for the city to fund, repair and build new infrastructure.
Charter Amendment LA would codify Bass’ roadmap into the city’s legal framework. Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky – whose district includes UCLA – City Controller Kenneth Mejia, and former City Controller Ron Galperin, endorsed the legislation.
Proponents of the measure believe its focus on executive accountability and long-term budgeting will enact meaningful reform in the city.
Doubling the city’s budget timeline could eliminate reactionary spending and catalyze intentional financial planning – thus growing LA’s wealth, said Edith de Guzman, a water equity and adaptation policy cooperative extension specialist at the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, an environmental research hub.
Moreover, the measure could facilitate collaboration across LA County Public Works’ five disjointed bureaus – engineering, contract administration, sanitation, street services and street lighting – by consolidating power into the hands of the director of public works, de Guzman said. Without a centralized coordinator, she added, bureaus battle for the same city funds, spurring financial inefficiency.
“There’s not necessarily a well-coordinated set of plans and ways in which these multiple bureaus operate,” she said. “That’s where this amendment has the potential of encouraging coordination across spaces that currently discourage it.”
Charter Amendment LA offers collaborative opportunities within city government and empowers public input – a necessary element of effective infrastructure planning, de Guzman said. The capital infrastructure plan’s specifics would depend on a future ordinance developed by the LA City Council and the mayor in a public process that allows the general public to weigh in on infrastructure priorities, according to nonprofit organization Investing in Place.
LA residents interact with the city’s infrastructure every day, making them well-equipped to inform city officials on the reforms LA needs, said Jessica Meaney, founder and executive director of Investing in Place, in an emailed statement.
“Decisions about sidewalks, safe crossings, trees and bus stops affect people’s daily lives,” Meaney said in the statement. “The people who use those spaces have knowledge that should help shape priorities.”
Conversely, others assert Charter Amendment LA leaves out key constituents: engineers and union workers.
“A reform that is serious about delivery would start with the people who deliver,” said Ernesto Medrano, the executive secretary for the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, in an emailed statement.
He added that an effective infrastructure plan should support existing construction unions, which provide prevailing wages, family-sustaining benefits, secure retirements and earn-while-you-learn apprenticeships.
Specialized engineers also need to be considered in capital infrastructure plans, said Asaad Alnajjar, senior engineering manager of the city of LA.
Charter Amendment LA’s expansion of the power of the director of public works overlooks engineers who bring nuanced expertise to conversations around infrastructure, Alnajjar said. He added that the measure’s success will hinge on how the mayor hires and empowers experts with backgrounds in engineering and planning.
De Guzman said she believes the organizational and people skills of the director of public works will be integral to the fulfillment of Charter Amendment LA.
“It’s going to be an experiment in democracy,” she said. “But then democracy has to actually occur.”
Students can vote in the 2026 midterm elections at multiple locations on and around campus, including at Ackerman Union, De Neve Plaza and the Hammer Museum.
Comments are closed.