This post was updated Nov. 3 at 11:37 p.m.

Los Angeles County residents will vote this November on whether to change the way the county is governed.

Measure G, authored by County Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn, proposes to alter the LA County Charter to expand the LA County Board of Supervisors from five to nine members and create an elected county executive. If passed, the referendum would also establish an ethics commission and require county departments and agencies to publish their annual budgets.

The board currently appoints the county’s CEO – who drafts the county’s budget, oversees administrative duties and reports to the supervisors, Horvath said. Measure G would make the county executive directly elected every four years – rather than appointed by the board – and provide the position greater power.

The amendment specifies that the addition of four new supervisors, direct election of the county executive and creation of the ethics commission would be implemented without further tax increases. Proponents of the measure claim the expenses for the changes would be funded internally from the county’s $49.2 billion budget.

Horvath, the supervisor for the county’s third district – which includes UCLA – and current chair of the Board of Supervisors, said Measure G is the most comprehensive reform package LA County has seen in years.

“The last time the governance of Los Angeles County changed was in 1912, before women had the right to vote – when there were more cows than people in Los Angeles County,“ she said. “We live in a completely different world, and it’s incredibly important that we have a government that responds to 21st-century realities.”

Zev Yaroslavsky, an alumnus and former chair of the Board of Supervisors, said at a UCLA civic engagement event Oct. 15 that he believes the most important aspect of Measure G is the elected county executive.

Yaroslavsky, whose supervisorial district included UCLA during his tenure on the board, said that in his experience, not having one person accountable for the entirety of the board has resulted in administrative mishaps – such as the former Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center in Willowbrook, an unincorporated area of south LA County, being closed because of poor patient care.

“We have a county which is run by a five-headed executive. When you have five people who are in charge, nobody’s in charge,” he said.

The measure, however, is not unanimously favored across the board. Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger – the latter of whom is the board’s sole Republican supervisor – abstained from voting, voicing concerns over the measure.

Helen Chavez, Barger’s communications director, said Barger has publicly stated her opposition to and voted against Measure G. She added that Barger believes it is a “Trojan horse measure” that creates the elected county executive position under the guise of expanding representation and accountability.

“What Measure G does is that it really consolidates power under this one individual,” Chavez said. “While the authors of Measure G and the proponents of Measure G say that it’s actually going to be more inclusive and expansive and provide better representation, actually, it’s going to do the opposite, because this one individual is going to have tremendous power with no term limits.”

Yaroslavsky, acknowledging those concerns, said in an interview that while the measure could have received input from a broader cross-section of people, such consultation would have pushed the measure’s start date back by two to four years.

Horvath added that the executive authority that already exists within the board would just be separated to create a new branch of government.

“This isn’t an executive over the Board of Supervisors,” Horvath said. “It’s a check and balance in that system.”

To expand the board, LA County would need to undergo redistricting to create four new districts. The redistricting would begin in 2030 – the year of the next United States Census – and members for the new districts would not be elected until 2032, Horvath said.

Chavez said Barger also believes amendments to a longstanding charter such as this one should be as precise as possible. She added that while Barger favors expanding the board, the supervisor has concerns over the measure’s logistics.

“She believes the public deserves every right,” Chavez said. “They have every right to vote as they see fit, as aligned with their vision for the county and principles and what they stand for.”

Los Angeles residents can vote in person Nov. 5 at Ackerman Union, the Hammer Museum or De Neve Plaza, among other locations across the county. Voters can also submit a vote-by-mail ballot as long as it is postmarked by Election Day.