Thursday, August 27, 2026

Supervisors to Take Up Eaton Fire Fraud Crackdown, Altadena Recovery Items Tuesday

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday will consider ordering a countywide task force to curb contractor fraud and scams targeting Eaton Fire survivors, an effort the motion would fold into the Altadena One-Stop Permitting Center, part of an agenda of 96 numbered items carrying several decisions with direct consequences for the unincorporated community.

The motion, submitted by Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose 5th District includes Altadena, would instruct the director of the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs to build upon and strengthen existing county consumer protection and wildfire recovery efforts, in collaboration with the district attorney, County Counsel, the director of the Department of Public Works and other relevant county departments, and in consultation with outside partners such as the state Contractors State License Board. The task force would be convened within 30 days.

Within 45 days, the department, working with the Office of Countywide Communications, would implement an expanded consumer awareness campaign delivering centralized information through the Recovery LA website at https://recovery.lacounty.gov and developing materials on verifying contractor licenses, understanding home improvement contracts, recognizing common scam tactics, reporting suspected fraud and reaching other consumer protection resources. The campaign is to include targeted outreach to survivors especially vulnerable to fraud, among them older adults, residents with limited English proficiency, displaced households and other hard-to-reach populations.

Once the materials are developed, Consumer and Business Affairs, the Department of Aging and Disabilities and Countywide Communications would distribute them through existing communication channels, community meetings, recovery resource centers, online platforms and partnerships with community-based organizations, and integrate both the task force and the campaign into the Altadena One-Stop Permitting Center. The motion would also authorize the department to execute agreements and amendments with consultants, nonprofit and community-based organizations and communications professionals.

The Board of Supervisors meets at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 1 in Board Hearing Room 381B of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple St. Also before the board are competing questions about how much of the January 2025 disaster response remains in force: whether to end the local health emergency declared after the firestorm, whether to extend nine local emergency proclamations, whether to keep in place the delegated authority that lets two departments award recovery contracts without competitive bidding, and a briefing on preparation for the coming storm season.

Health emergency termination returns for a fifth time
Item 38, a Department of Public Health recommendation to adopt a resolution terminating the local health emergency proclaimed as a result of the January 2025 windstorm and critical fire events, is back on the agenda after being continued from the meetings of June 9, June 16, July 14 and Aug. 4. If adopted, the director of the Office of Emergency Management would forward a copy of the resolution to the director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

The underlying disaster declarations are a separate matter. Under Item 28, the board is asked to adopt and instruct the chair to sign nine resolutions continuing proclaimed local emergencies: the fruit fly infestation proclaimed in May 1990, homelessness, the Bridge Fire, Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, the January 2025 windstorm and critical fire events, federal immigration actions, the November 2025 storm, the late December winter storm and the Los Palos incident. The same nine return as Item A-1, among the matters carried over from previous meetings for further discussion and action.

Emergency contracting authority up for renewal
Two bi-weekly reports, Items 31 and 42, ask the board to find substantial evidence that the fires continue to constitute an emergency under Public Contract Code Section 22050 and to keep delegating authority to the directors of the Internal Services Department and Public Works to amend, extend and award recovery contracts without giving notice for bids. Both items require four votes. The reports cover the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Kenneth fires and multiple other fires, and the cleanup and reconstruction of public property, buildings, facilities and infrastructure.

Separately, Item 22 calls for a verbal presentation by the director of the Office of Emergency Management, joined by Public Works, the sheriff, the fire chief and the directors of Homeless Services and Housing, Beaches and Harbors and Public Social Services, summarizing potential impacts and planned strategies to mitigate El Niño during the 2026-27 storm season. The board requested the briefing at its Aug. 11 meeting, and the item is set to be received and filed.

Altadena homicide reward, commercial tenant rules
Item 6, also from Barger, would extend an $85,000 reward in the investigation of the murder of Salvador Esparza III, killed in the unincorporated area of Altadena on July 5, 2016.

Altadena’s business corridors fall within the reach of Item 20, a motion by Supervisors Holly J. Mitchell and Hilda L. Solis directing Consumer and Business Affairs, with the treasurer and tax collector, the Department of Economic Opportunity, the chief executive officer and County Counsel, to design a Commercial Rental Property License that landlords in unincorporated areas would have to obtain as a condition of leasing commercial space. The design would come 60 days after the chief executive officer’s 90-day report on the June 16, 2026 Solis and Mitchell motion titled “Providing the Best Starting Point for Business Owners in Los Angeles County,” which is to include a draft model and recommendations for a county business licensing program. The license design is to include proposed definitions of commercial landlord and commercial tenant, a compliance and enforcement protocol for violations, and recommendations for minimizing the pass-through of any fees onto business tenants to the extent legally feasible.

License applications would disclose landlord information, unit size, tenancy or vacancy status, rent, lease duration, length of tenancy, years of operation and use, along with any judgments or administrative findings involving tenant protection, health, safety and building codes, anti-harassment or anti-discrimination law, and any tax delinquency, all verified annually. The county department maintaining the record would update it annually or within 30 days of a change in vacancy status and use it to connect commercial tenants and property owners with county resources, increase access to affordable commercial space and prevent small business displacement.

A license could be suspended following a final court determination that the landlord violated the county’s Commercial Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance. During a suspension, to the maximum extent permitted by state law, the landlord would be barred from raising rent or filing a no-fault eviction until the violation is remedied or for one year, whichever is longer, with the remedy structured to protect rather than destabilize tenants in place. The motion also seeks a Special Status license for landlords who commit to holding rent increases to no more than 3% a year for 10 years, with those holders eligible for county procurement preferences, tax incentives and other incentives, and their status disclosed to prospective tenants.

A second directive would have the Department of Economic Opportunity return within 180 days with an ordinance entitling a commercial tenant who relocates because of a violation of that anti-harassment chapter to relocation assistance from the landlord, equal to the greater of three months of gross receipts or three months of fair market rent for an equivalent location, plus moving costs, with recommendations for a cap. The department would also conduct a commercial rent study within 120 days and every three years thereafter. County Counsel would separately report back in 120 days on ordinance language requiring landlords to pay relocation assistance to commercial tenants displaced by redevelopment projects in unincorporated areas.

Pasadena items on the agenda
Item 26 asks the board to approve amended and restated joint occupancy and transfer agreements for the Pasadena Courthouse between the county and the Judicial Council of California, incorporating the city of Pasadena’s parking share and excluding the parking structure from the transfer agreement. A companion purchase and sale agreement would convey to the city, on an as-is basis, 30% of the parking structure and the Panhandle Property along with the county’s remaining interest in the Panhandle Property, for total consideration of $804,222. The package would also terminate the joint powers organization formed for the construction and use of the structure, replaced by a parking agreement settling all past disputes and defining each entity’s rights, use and responsibility for ongoing operation.

Under Item 63, the board would approve and instruct the chair to execute an agreement with the city of Pasadena for supplemental law enforcement services during the annual Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1, or Jan. 2, of each year, commencing upon execution and running through June 30, 2031.

Item 44 includes 1802 Oakwood St. in the unincorporated Pasadena area among 18 properties subject to Building Rehabilitation Appeals Board findings and orders abating public nuisances.

Elsewhere on the agenda, Item 17 would suspend a board rule to let the registrar-recorder/county clerk accept state funding under Senate Bill 111 to expedite vote counting and support voter outreach for the Nov. 3 general election, and execute purchase orders, including sole-source purchases, with written notice to the board before any purchase above $250,000; Item 30 would fix the 2026-27 tax rates for county, special district and school district debt service funds; Item 34 would authorize an online sealed bid auction of tax-defaulted properties Dec. 16 and 17 at a reduced minimum price of $250 per property; and Item 88 would authorize the county to levy taxes to service up to $27 million in La Cañada Unified School District general obligation bonds.

How to participate
Beyond the 96 numbered items, the agenda carries a sanitation district agenda, a Los Angeles County Development Authority item, 10 closed session matters and 10 items continued from previous meetings. Most of the agenda is a consent calendar, approved by one motion unless an item is held by a board member for discussion.

Registration to address the board opens at 9 a.m. the day of the meeting at http://www.publiccomment.lacounty.gov. Callers may dial (213) 444-2600 and press the star key to reach the menu, then 3 to speak on the active item, 1 to listen only or 0 to register for multiple items. Written testimony may be submitted at https://publiccomment.bos.lacounty.gov. The full agenda and supporting documents are posted at http://bos.lacounty.gov. The meeting will be televised at 11 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2, on KLCS.