City Ethics Commission · Held

Los Angeles City Ethics Commission meeting, August 19, 2026

August 19, 2026, 1 p.m. · Updated October 2, 2026

On the agenda: The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission's agenda for Aug. 19, 2026, had two action items. The first was a staff recommendation to find that DWP Commissioner Wilma Pinder's three recusals in 2026, on contracts worth about $170 million with companies whose stock she owns, are not a "significant and continuing" conflict requiring divestment (staff report). The second was a corrected resolution setting the executive director's salary at $346,044.24 (staff report). The agenda also listed the election of a president and vice president. Minutes were not posted on the Commission's meetings page as of Oct. 1, 2026; audio is posted.

Agenda only. As of October 2, 2026, minutes for the August 19, 2026 meeting of the City Ethics Commission had not been posted. This summary is based on the agenda and does not report what was decided.

6. Recusal review of DWP Commissioner Wilma Pinder

• What it does: Charter Section 707 requires the Commission to review a board member’s conflicts after three or more recusals in 365 days and to order divestment if the conflict is “significant and continuing” (staff report).
• Facts in the report: Pinder, on the DWP Board since March 2024, recused herself three times from Jan. 1 to July 31, 2026, about 1.5 percent of the 223 items the Board considered: a 12-month UnitedHealth agreement worth up to $67.4 million, a United Concordia dental agreement worth up to $3.74 million, and a three-year, $90 million agreement with Mythics, LLC for Oracle products. She owns stock in UnitedHealth and Oracle. The DWP Board passed the items unanimously without her. Two earlier reviews, in December 2024 and June 2025, found her recusals continuing but not significant (staff report).
• Staff recommendation: Adopt a resolution finding no significant and continuing conflict at this time; no divestment. Staff called the dollar value significant but not the number or impact of the recusals (staff report).

7. Executive director’s salary

• What it does: Replaces the resolution adopted in June because the City Administrative Officer could not process it. The revised resolution sets salary range M-9 and an annual salary of $346,044.24 effective June 14, 2026, and states that the executive director is treated as a general manager for salary and benefits (staff report).

8. Behested payments, first half of 2026

• Numbers in the report: Five elected officials reported $3,049,400 in payments made at their request: Mayor Karen Bass $2,907,062, Monica Rodriguez $60,000, Adrin Nazarian $38,000, Katy Yaroslavsky $31,838 and John Lee $12,500. The total compares with $4,461,928 in the first half of 2025 and $8,090,882 in the second half. The largest donor was Kaiser Permanente at $1,020,000, including $1,000,000 to the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles (staff report).

9. Election update

• Numbers in the report: As of Aug. 12, 2026, primary candidates reported $23,799,393 in contributions and $30,039,192 in spending, and the Commission had paid $6,993,725 in matching funds. Independent expenditure communications cost $27,405,953. Four races go to the November runoff: Mayor, City Attorney, and Council Districts 3 and 9 (staff report).