LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion authored by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell and co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath that sets Los Angeles County on track to establish a Fair Workweek ordinance requiring employers with 300 or more workers in unincorporated Los Angeles County to provide standard protections that include but are not limited to proper time off, control over schedules, and anti-retaliation measures.

 “Nearly 77% of retail workers receive less than one week notice of their schedules making it difficult to plan appropriately for their families and lives. Our retail workers remain on the frontlines of serving our community and have been demanding these protections long before we faced the COVID-19 pandemic. This motion gets us closer to passing an ordinance that will create a more equitable workforce and help remove income instability that can lead to unemployment and poverty” shared Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell

“Many retail workers struggle to meet family obligations because they receive their work schedules just days in advance, and find themselves closing out one night, and opening up only a few hours after. During the pandemic, LA residents came to better understand how reliant we are on our retail workforce, and how much we owe them. Retail workers deserve two weeks’ advance notice of their work schedule, adequate rest between shifts, and additional compensation if they are asked to accommodate last-minute work schedule changes. This proposed ordinance will establish that equitable baseline and demonstrates our appreciation for the working people of our county” said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

Over the last decade the Board of Supervisors have been committed to protecting workers. Most recently, in November of 2021 the Board of Supervisors adopted a motion to establish the Office of Labor Equity (OLE) within Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. The establishment of OLE has led to the enforcement of critical worker protections including the County’s Minimum Wage, Temporary Hero Pay and Preventing Retaliation for Reporting Public Health violations ordinances.

The motion calls for County Counsel in collaboration with the Department of Economic Opportunity and Department of Consumer Business Affairs to report back to the Board of Supervisors in 6-months with a Fair Workweek Ordinance for adoption.

To read the full motion, click here.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — As COVID-19 cases and respiratory illnesses during the winter season continue to rise, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved Supervisor Mitchell’s motion to extend Emergency Eviction Protections that were established at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Supervisor Mitchell provided the following statement regarding the motion that will extend existing protections by one month, that are now set to end on January 31, 2023:

“In order to achieve an equitable recovery from the pandemic we must continue to account for the realities of our residents. Tenants across the County will now have an additional month to prepare for the phase out of tenant protections that were set forth due to COVID-19. I am proud that the Board of Supervisors has approved this motion and look forward to working together to strengthen the County’s tenant protections.”

“I met with residents from the Keep LA Housed Coalition, members of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) and have heard from countless constituents including landlords who do not want to push out their tenants. I have consistently shared that while COVID-19 emergency tenant protections cannot last forever, I am committed to following up on the permanent tenant protections moving forward to ensure safe and healthy homes for our constituents.”

“What is clear, is that must continue to responsibly prepare tenants and prevent evictions as the County transitions into the new normal of the pandemic.”

For the most up-to-date information on the County’s housing and tenant protections visit: https://dcba.lacounty.gov/rentstabilization/

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell released a map of priority locations where the County will build low-cost internet for households in the Second District. Supervisor Mitchell made the announcement in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Internal Services Department (ISD), which is Los Angeles County’s lead on digital equity, during a free laptop giveaway event at the Willowbrook Library this morning. ISD handed out 700 laptops across Los Angeles, all of which are enabled with a full year of IT support.

“I joined the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the height of the pandemic. And it became very clear that access to reliable internet was critical to our success of emerging out of the pandemic. In the Second District, as much as 30 percent of households lack home internet. This is unacceptable, and Los Angeles County is working aggressively to upend this. We are leading the nation on a plan to crush the digital divide,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell.

The Community Broadband Network (CBN) pilot will deliver free broadband services to low-income County residents. ISD will work with a pool of pre-qualified service providers to deploy and operate broadband networks in communities impacted by the digital divide. See map below for the pilot area in the Second District which includes neighborhoods along the 110 corridor south of the 10 freeway, including Willowbrook, Westmont, West Athens, Florence Firestone, and South Los Angeles. In September 2022, the LA County Board of Supervisors approved a total of $56 million to help connect families to fast and reliable internet.

Construction for the Community Broadband Network will begin in early 2023. The pilot area covers areas where more than 20 percent of households lack home internet. The goal of the program is to provide internet at low- and no-cost that is fast and reliable, where multiple members of a household can be streaming at the same time. Service providers are also required to provide multi-lingual community engagement programs and advertising.

For more information, visit DeletetheDivide.org.

To view photos from the event, click here.