ASU empowers LA residents to join landmark charter-reform efforts

An Arizona State University professor of practice is helping the city of Los Angeles with a historic and complicated process — revising its outdated charter for the first time in decades.

This month, a civic assembly of regular Los Angeles residents convened at the ASU California Center Broadway in downtown LA, where they took a deep dive into some thorny municipal issues and made recommendations that may go before the voters on the November ballot.

The community members in the 2026 Los Angeles City Charter Civic Assembly came up with nine proposals that would change the city government and enshrine reforms for the future — including establishing a permanent civic assembly to meet twice a year.

The effort has been led by Joe Mathews with ASU’s School of Politics and Global Studies.