Don’t just blame Los Angeles County’s lawyers for accidentally repealing justice reform measure

Re: “LA County repealed its own justice reforms. Restoring them would require a shaky electorate“

Robert Greene’s recent column on Measure J rightly underscores its importance. However, I take issue with the seemingly blanket blame put onto the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office, blatantly glossing over the root cause of this issue, which is simple: the failure of the prior Executive Office to update the county charter in Municode, the website that houses and codifies municipal laws nationwide, to reflect Measure J.

The current executive officer, Edward Yen, has acknowledged this oversight.

The County Counsel’s Office followed protocol at every step. We notified the prior executive office of all court rulings on Measure J. When directed to draft Measure G, we followed instructions from the Board of Supervisors to rely on the proposed charter amendment from 2000 and the charter as reflected in Municode.

Our office has handled over 10,000 cases in the last four years. To suggest lawyers should rely on memory over the official charter record is not only unrealistic, it undermines legal procedures.

Scapegoating our office is inaccurate and sets a dangerous precedent.