LA Squawk Box for Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Mayor Bass and police commissioners urged to restrict LAPD from helping ICE, county health services sales tax measure surpasses 50%, AP declares Raman is in the LA mayor's race runoff, and more.

What’s happening today?

LA County: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, is meeting today. They’re getting an update on its new homeless services department and what is being done to support LAHSA workers. They’re also taking up reports about the May 22 oil spill in East Los Angeles, a plan for curtailing street racing, and the latest quarterly report from the county’s inspector general on reform efforts at the Sheriff’s Department. You can tune into the meeting here or here. The agendas are here.

LA City: The LA City Council is meeting today, and you can tune in here. The Board of Police Commissioners is also meeting this morning You can tune in live here, or catch the video a few days after here.

Donut shop workers to protest unpaid work: Workers at Yum Yum Donuts on Hoover Street in Downtown LA are protesting $160,000 in unpaid wages, including from being paid less than the state’s $20 minimum wage for uncompensated overtime and off-the-clock work. The workers are also expected to advocate for LA leaders to adopt a fast food fair work ordinance, which could lead to the creation of “know your rights” trainings and scheduling protections for fast food workers. Here’s some past coverage on this proposed legislation, from the LA Times’ Suhauna Hussain. You can rifle through the council file for this LA City Council legislation here. And City Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez, a major champion of the measure, provided an update last year on a key vote on this legislation.

What just happened?

Raman knocks aside Pratt to advance to the November runoff in LA mayor’s race: The Associated Press has declared that Nithya Raman is advancing to a runoff with Mayor Karen Bass in the LA mayor’s race. Monday marked the second day Raman held the second place spot, after first overtaking Spencer Pratt on Sunday. Raman was 3% ahead of Pratt in Monday’s results. Raman released a statement saying that her campaign’s “fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles continues. For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them.” Bass’s political strategist Douglas Herman reacted with a New York Times article in a post saying that “a campaign against @nithyavraman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one @KarenBassLA looks forward to winning.” Bass’s campaign account also posted a reaction, saying that “this is an election with a choice between whether we keep making change together or Nithya Raman who allows encampments near schools and fights against hiring more cops, yet is MIA on saving Hollywood jobs and fighting back when ICE invades LA.”

County health services sales tax, Measure ER, surpasses 50% on Monday. Will this result hold, in today’s update?: Monday’s election results showed that Measure ER, a half-cent sales tax to fund LA County health services, passing for the first time, over the past week of updates. But it is only passing by a hair. Earlier ballots counted had the sales tax failing, but the “yes” votes are now at 50.35%. There will be another update from the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk after 4 p.m. today. The measure was put on the ballot in reaction to federal funding cuts that have resulted in the closure of hospitals and clinics.

On the anniversary of ICE raids, community groups urge LAPD commissioners, Mayor Karen Bass to follow sanctuary laws: Community, labor and faith groups, including those who are part of the LA Sanctuary Coalition sent a seven-page letter to Mayor Karen Bass and the Board of Police Commissioners urging action on a motion aimed about prevent the LAPD from assisting on immigration enforcement. The group presented to the Board of Police Commissioners on May 12, after an earlier scheduled presentation had been pulled back in April. Police Chief Jim McDonnell happened to not have been present at the meeting where their presentation was made. The June 8 letter calls on the LAPD to update their internal guidelines, as well as restrict their responses to 911 calls made by ICE and other federal immigration enforcement agencies. Last Thursday, June 6, was the anniversary of the start of the ICE raids in Los Angeles.

LA City Council gets a report on short-term rental violators: Better Neighbors LA, which opposes changes that would expand short-term rentals in Los Angeles, sent a letter to the City Council on Monday that lays out 11 illegal short-term rental operators. They calculate that this could amount to as much as $201 million in fines, through April 2026, that could be levied for violating the city’s home sharing ordinance. The fines for April 2026 alone would amount to as much as $4.5 million, according to the letter. The group argues that instead of expanding short-term rentals to increase tax revenues, the city could fine violators.

Karen Bass less vulnerable to shifts in who’s voting: The Ballot Book offers up an analysis on the different sets of election results posted up over the past week in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, highlighting a known phenomenon of older voters turning in their ballots early, and younger voters submitting them last minute. Those who turned in ballots last minute were more likely to vote for Nithya Raman. Toward the end of the analysis, they point out that Mayor Karen Bass was less vulnerable to the shift in demographics. Bass “appears to have a broader coalition that was less sensitive to these changes in ballot timing.” (H/T to John Gonzales on X)

City Attorney candidate to continue sharing message via Substack: Human rights attorney Aida Ashouri earned 10 percent of the votes in the City Attorney race, which was just over 71,589 votes as of Monday. She posted a message on Instagram saying that she plans to post on Substack to “discuss problems in the city and the hurdles I went through as a candidate. I’m going to continue using this platform to educate and build community.”