Election 2026 · City of Los Angeles

Charter Amendment PRT: Airports, Harbor, and Water and Power

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026

Charter Amendment PRT would change rules for the City's three self-funded departments: the airports, the Port and the Department of Water and Power. It lengthens the leases the airports and DWP can sign, requires more airport commissioners from near LAX and Van Nuys, writes the Port's spending on waterfront public access into the Charter, and makes Port lease applicants disclose effects on jobs.

Summary by CityHallPass, not the official text or legal advice. The official text controls: City Clerk's voter information pamphlet.

What would Charter Amendment PRT cost?

The City Administrative Officer says the lease, airport board and workforce disclosure changes are cost-neutral, and that applicants would pay for their own disclosures. The public access requirement puts into the Charter the Harbor Department's practice of giving 10% of its operating income to waterfront projects, which has averaged about $28.6 million a year. The Port's money is separate from the City's General Fund.

The details

The question on your ballot

Shall the City Charter be amended to: require the Harbor Department to allocate funds for waterfront public access projects; require disclosure of workforce impacts for certain Harbor Department leases and agreements; increase maximum terms for certain leases; and change the composition requirement for the Airport Commission?

What would change

Charter sections that change

PRT amends four sections of the City Charter (full text):

• Sec. 607(a), lease length for the proprietary departments. Deletes “a term up to 50 years for the Airports Department and Department of Water and Power and.” The 66-year limit that now covers only the Harbor Department is extended to “the Department of Airports, Harbor Department, and the Department of Water and Power.” Leases over 30 years still need a Council finding and a two-thirds vote, subject to Mayoral veto.
• Sec. 630, Board of Airport Commissioners. Replaces “one member” with “three members” for the LAX area and “one member” with “two members” for the Van Nuys area, keeping “at least” before each. Adds a new sentence letting the Council divide those areas into subareas by ordinance.
• Sec. 651, new subsection (d), “Public Access Investment Plan.” Requires the Board of Harbor Commissioners to allocate part of the Port’s operating income each year to waterfront public access and other public projects developed with public input, in an amount the Board alone sets, consistent with its duties under Public Resources Code sections 6005, 6009.1 and 6306.
• Sec. 652, new subsection (g), “Workforce Impacts.” Adds workforce impact disclosures to the Harbor Commission’s powers and duties. The disclosure must estimate effects on jobs tied to the site and on the regional economy “to the extent known.” Subsections (a) through (f) are reprinted without change (full text).
• Section 5 is a standard severability clause.

The City Attorney’s June 26 draft also changed Charter Section 1700, to let Port Wardens hired from outside City service choose between the police and fire pension plan and the civilian retirement system. The Council removed that change on June 30 and asked the CAO for an actuarial study for a possible 2028 ballot (City Attorney report R26-0380, p. 8; Amending Motion 96A).

How it got on the ballot

PRT bundles four ideas that reached the Council by different routes during the 2025-26 Charter review. The Council placed it on the ballot. No petition was involved.

• Feb. 4, 2025: Councilmember Tim McOsker, whose district includes San Pedro and Wilmington, moved to put the Port’s Public Access Investment Plan and a leasing policy on job impacts into the Charter (Motion, Council File 25-0118).
• Feb. 19, 2026: The Chief Legislative Analyst recommended putting both in the Administrative Code instead of the Charter, so the Council could change them by ordinance. The City Attorney warned that fixed funding levels or permit conditions could conflict with the Harbor Commission’s authority under the state tidelands trust (CLA report, pp. 1-2).
• March 24, 2026: McOsker filed motions for a “Workforce Impact Report” at the Port, citing automation and artificial intelligence (Motion, Council File 26-0426-S2; Motion, Council File 26-0426-S1).
• April 2, 2026: The Charter Reform Commission recommended letting the airports and DWP sign 66-year leases, like the Port (recommendation CRC 65) (CLA report, June 10, 2026, p. 31).
• May 1, 2026: Councilmembers Traci Park and Imelda Padilla moved to require more Airport Commissioners from near LAX and Van Nuys, citing a 2024 voter-approved change that guaranteed Wilmington and San Pedro seats on the Harbor Commission (Motion, Council File 26-0659).
• June 17, 2026: The Council approved the pieces separately (Council recap):
  • 66-year leases: 15-0 (recap, item 27).
  • Public access plan and workforce disclosure, through McOsker’s Amending Motions 67C and 67G: 12-0, with Bob Blumenfield, Ysabel Jurado and Curren Price absent (recap, recommendation 86; Motion 67C; Motion 67G).
  • Airport Commission residency, through Padilla’s Amending Motion 67A: 8-4. Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt and John Lee voted no (recap, recommendation 102).
• June 26, 2026: The City Attorney grouped the changes into one measure on the proprietary departments (City Attorney report R26-0380).
• June 30, 2026: The Council dropped the Port Warden pension change (Motion 96A), rewrote the workforce disclosure to add nonprofits to the exemption and tie the Harbor Commission’s review to its state-law duties (Motion 96B), and adopted the measure (Motion 96B; Council action). The Council file records the vote as 13-0, with Hutt and Price absent (Council File 26-1100-S16). The Clerk’s action sheet also lists Monica Rodriguez as absent (Council action). The Mayor approved on July 9, and the election ordinance took effect July 14 (Ordinance 188982).
• Aug. 4, 2026: McOsker and Padilla were the only applicants to write the argument in favor. No one asked to write one against. The Rules committee approved them 4-0 (City Clerk list of applicants; committee memo).

Related past measures.

• Measure P (March 2017): raised the Harbor Department’s lease limit from 50 to 66 years after state law changed in 2015. Voters approved it (Ballotpedia). PRT would give the airports and DWP the same limit.
• Charter Amendment HH (November 2024): among other changes, required that the five-member Harbor Commission include a resident of San Pedro and a resident of Wilmington (LAist; Spectrum News 1). It passed with 81.30% (County election results).

What each side says

In the City pamphlet. Ballot arguments are the authors’ opinions. No City agency checks them for accuracy (City pamphlet). No argument against PRT was submitted.

Argument in favor, signed by Councilmembers Tim McOsker, Imelda Padilla and Traci Park, Westchester/Playa Neighborhood Council President Paula Gerez, Wilmington community advocate Gina Martinez and Van Nuys community advocate David Yanowitz (argument in favor; signers):

• Airport neighbors: raising the number of airport-area commissioners “from two to five” gives people affected by “aircraft noise, traffic, and congestion” more say.
• Port: PRT “memorializes important existing commitments,” putting the job-impact disclosures and waterfront public access plan into the Charter.
• Leases: longer leases for DWP and the airports allow “responsible long-term investments” while keeping public oversight.

Outside the pamphlet.

• Los Angeles World Airports asked for the 66-year limit. It told the Council the 50-year cap “has proven problematic” with developers weighing large projects “such as cargo development and building an airport hotel” (LAWA letter, May 8, 2026, p. 11).
• The Harbor Department, under Executive Director Eugene Seroka, said putting the public access plan and leasing policy in the Charter “impedes the Harbor Commission’s ability to exercise that discretion in the manner contemplated by State law.” It said a workforce impact report “may create significant administrative burdens” and could discourage applicants (Harbor Department letter, May 7, 2026, pp. 5-6). That letter came before the Council added language leaving the amount and the review to the Harbor Commission.
• The California State Lands Commission staff, which oversees the Port’s state tidelands grant, wrote that any Charter change must fit the City’s duties as trustee and that staff “are monitoring the proposed changes” (State Lands Commission letter, April 14, 2026).
• The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce urged the Council “to reject Charter codification” of the workforce and public access rules, saying the disclosures would “significantly lengthen lease negotiations” and make the Port less competitive (LA Area Chamber letter, April 14, 2026). The letter addressed the April proposals, before the ballot language was written.
• ILWU Locals 13, 63 and 94, representing about 15,000 dockworkers, clerks and foremen, asked the Council to put the public access plan and workforce impact report in the Charter or the Administrative Code, comparing the report to an environmental impact report (ILWU letter, April 30, 2026).
• Daily News columnist Susan Shelley recommends a yes vote (Daily News, Sept. 29, 2026).
• Mona Field, a Charter Reform Commission member, called the airport commission change “mundane” and urged yes votes on all the Charter measures (Golden State Report, Aug. 12, 2026).

Checking the main factual claims against official records.

Who supports and opposes it

Supporters

• Pamphlet signers: Councilmembers Tim McOsker, Imelda Padilla and Traci Park; Paula Gerez (Westchester/Playa Neighborhood Council); Gina Martinez; David Yanowitz. The pamphlet says titles are for identification only (signers).
• Los Angeles World Airports supported the lease change (LAWA letter; CLA report, support table).
• ILWU Locals 13, 63 and 94 supported putting the Port provisions into City law, in an April letter on the related Council file (ILWU letter). We found no statement from them on PRT itself.
• Daily News columnist Susan Shelley (Daily News).

Opponents

• No one applied to write the argument against, and no committee has formed for or against PRT (committee memo; City Ethics election totals).
• Councilmembers Harris-Dawson, Hernandez, Hutt and Lee voted against the Airport Commission residency piece on June 17. We found no public explanation of those votes (Council recap).
• The LA Area Chamber of Commerce and the Harbor Department objected in April and May to putting the Port rules in the Charter. We found no statement from either on the final ballot language (Chamber letter; Harbor Department letter).

Editorial boards. We found no LA Times or Daily News editorial board position on PRT as of Sept. 30, 2026.

Parties and other groups. We found no published position from the Los Angeles County Democratic or Republican parties, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor or the League of Women Voters as of Sept. 30, 2026.

Money for and against

Source: City Ethics election totals and the City Ethics independent expenditure search, checked Sept. 30, 2026.

Who is giving

No contributions have been reported, so there are no donors to analyze.

Outside spending

None reported as of Sept. 30, 2026.

Independent analysis

The City’s official analyses are the CLA’s impartial summary (City pamphlet) and the CAO’s financial impact statement (City pamphlet). We found no Controller report on PRT.

The Port’s public access plan

• The plan started in 2015 as a ten-year guideline to spend 10% of the Port’s operating income on public access at the LA Waterfront. In 2023 the Harbor Commission made it permanent on a rolling five-year basis (CLA report, Feb. 19, 2026, p. 3).
• The Port committed $313.9 million in the first ten years. Counting planned projects through 2029-30, the total is $407 million, split about evenly: $203.6 million for the Wilmington waterfront and $203.4 million for San Pedro (CLA report, pp. 3-4).
• The Port’s money comes from its own operations and is controlled by the Harbor Commission under the state tidelands trust, not by the City Council (CLA report, p. 2).

Charter or ordinance

The CLA advised in February that both Port provisions go in the Administrative Code, because “operational or policy reforms” are usually better done by ordinance, which the Council can change without an election (CLA report, Feb. 19, 2026, p. 1). The Council chose the Charter. The final text keeps the Harbor Commission’s control over the amount and ties the disclosure review to the Commission’s duties under the Public Resources Code (proposed Secs. 651(d) and 652(g)). A future change to either provision would need another citywide vote.

Leases

The CLA said the lease change “would provide lease length parity across the proprietary departments” and recommended language allowing 66-year leases unless state or federal law says otherwise, which the final text includes (CLA report, June 10, 2026, p. 31; proposed Sec. 607(a)).

If it passes

• When it takes effect. A Charter amendment takes effect when it is filed with the California Secretary of State after the vote is certified (California Constitution, Art. XI, Sec. 3).
• Airport Commission. Commissioners are appointed and removed under Charter Section 502 (proposed Sec. 630). The areas around each airport are defined by ordinance, and PRT lets the Council add subarea rules the same way. PRT sets no deadline for meeting the new residency rule. We found no City statement on how current commissioners would be affected.
• Port. The Harbor Commission would set each year’s public access amount and apply the disclosure rule, including which small businesses and nonprofits are exempt (proposed Secs. 651(d) and 652(g)).
• Leases. Any airport or DWP lease longer than 30 years would still need a Council finding and a two-thirds vote (proposed Sec. 607(a)).
• Legal challenges. None filed or announced as of Sept. 30, 2026. The State Lands Commission staff said it is monitoring the Port changes (State Lands Commission letter).

Key moments

We found no debate or forum focused on PRT in news coverage or City records as of Sept. 30, 2026.

• Split vote on the airport board (June 17, 2026). The residency change passed 8-4, the closest vote among PRT’s parts (Council recap).
• Port Warden change dropped (June 30, 2026). The Council removed the pension provision before adopting the measure (Amending Motion 96A). A representative of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association was among the speakers listed that day (speaker list).

Polls

We found no public poll on PRT from an academic, media or nonpartisan pollster as of Sept. 30, 2026.