The Haynes Foundation has a long-established commitment to good governance and expanded democracy at the county level.

A half-century ago, the Foundation funded the Public Commission on Los Angeles County Government, an independent blue-ribbon panel. The commission’s landmark 1976 report, To Serve Seven Million, recommended an elected executive and a nine-member board.

Forty-nine years later, on November 5, 2024, the voters of Los Angeles County approved Measure G, a transformational reform to restructure the county’s governance system in a manner similar to the 1976 proposal. Voters will elect a county executive in 2028 and the board will be expanded from 5 to 9 members with legislative authority in 2032.

This reform is historic, given that 57 of the 58 counties in California have the same five-member system (with San Francisco’s city-county model the sole exception).  Since 1855, Los Angeles County has had five elected supervisors with both executive and legislative authority.

Voters will be watching to see if the new governance system can be designed and implemented in a manner that is both effective and responsive.  How will the new county executive operate in a system of checks and balances?  How will the new supervisors represent their smaller districts?  A county task force on implementation of Measure G began its 3½ year journey on May 30, 2025, to address these and other questions.  County reform in Los Angeles may also be closely watched by voters and leaders throughout the LA region, across the state and beyond.

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To serve 7 million
cow county no more