The City Council on Friday approved a motion aimed at addressing an abandoned luxury skyscraper development in downtown Los Angeles, after more than 25 floors were tagged with spray paint.

Council members voted 14-0 to instruct city departments to begin an abatement process to secure the site and restore the sidewalks should the property owners fail to respond by Feb. 17, and remove all graffiti and debris, and securely fence the property on their own accord.

The planned $1 billion multi-use complex, known as Oceanwide Plaza, began construction some years ago, but stalled since 2019 when Beijing-based developer Oceanwide Holdings could no longer finance it.

With recent events at Crypto.com Arena such as the Grammy Awards and the statue unveiling of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020, worldwide attention has fallen on the tagged complex as well.

“We confront a challenge that undermines the very character of our neighborhoods — that is both blight and criminal vandalism,” Councilman Kevin de León said prior to the vote, who represents the 14th District where the development is located.

He added, “Last week, the eyes of the world turned toward our vibrant city where we hosted the Grammy Awards. Yet, I missed the excitement. We could not ignore the blight across the street on the building of a private development that failed to be completed.”

While he noted graffiti art has its place, it should not be on public or private property, where it defaces city streets and diminishes a sense of security.

“Let me be clear, defacing this property or any public property is not the fault of the city or due to neglect by the city,” de León said. “That responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the developer. There’s no ifs, ands or buts.”

According to the councilman, the city notified the property owners in several different ways, such as email, phone calls, fax and messages through social media platforms.

“(They) have to get their act together,” de León said.

He noted that if the property owners do not act within the legal amount of time, the city will take action. The Bureau of Street Services will ensure the removal of all obstructions blocking sidewalks and streets, including K-rail and scaffolding.

The councilman took a moment to address criticism from L.A. residents, who did not approve of the Los Angeles Police Department spending time on “security” for the complex or for spending resources because it’s abandoned. Some housing advocates have said the time and money spent could be used to address the city’s homelessness crisis.

“LAPD belongs to the people of the city of L.A., and the constituents,” de León said. “Their efforts should not be diverted to protect for-profit developers.”

LAPD Central Division, which oversees Downtown L.A. and other areas, reported at least seven individuals have been arrested on suspicion of vandalism, trespass, burglary and other crimes, according to recent statements. Central Division detectives were also placed to investigate crimes committed at the site.

On turning the complex into housing, de León said it was easier said than done.

“It’s not that simple because we don’t have a billion dollars lying around right now to buy this three-tower development,” he said.” That’s just the current value, if you will, more or less on the actual abandoned building. It will take another billion dollars, at least, and I’m that conservatively, to actually complete and finalize this building.”

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez supported the motion, adding “This circumstance is one of exploitation and criminal activity.”

She referred to the building as a “huge black eye” and a “red flag” about how the city needs to be vigilant and obstruct these activities from occurring.

Councilwoman Imelda Padilla said she was shocked by how much people wouldn’t stop talking about the tagged complex.

“At the end of the day, the only reason why we’re talking about it is because it’s just so gigantic,” she added. “But we have these all over Los Angeles. I can think of at least four buildings that are mini versions —what (it is) is neglect from property owners.”

LOS ANGELES — Disgraced former L.A. City Councilman José Huizar was sentenced Friday to 13 years in federal prison for using his powerful position at City Hall to shake down real estate developers for at least $1.5 million in cash and benefits in exchange for help driving downtown real estate projects through the city’s approval process, and for cheating on his taxes.

Huizar, 55, of Boyle Heights, “made a business of his public office at the expense of the citizens of Los Angeles,” U.S. District Judge John Walter said from the bench before imposing sentence.

Huizar sat stonily during the two-hour hearing in downtown Los Angeles, briefly addressing the court to apologize to his family and former constituents. He said he hoped others in public office would take heed of his current situation.

The judge gave Huizar until April 30 to begin serving his sentence. Along with the prison term, Walter ordered restitution of $443,905 payable to the city of Los Angeles and the Internal Revenue Service, with $50,000 due immediately. Huizar must also serve three years of supervised release following prison.

The former councilman pleaded guilty a year ago to federal counts of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and tax evasion in a sprawling criminal probe that ensnared lobbyists, consultants and other city officials and staffers, who sought to personally enrich themselves and their families and associates in exchange for official acts, authorities said.

Walter called the defendant “one of the most corrupt officials of the last several years.” The judge added that Huizar yearned to “live the good life, as enjoyed by the wealthy developers” he unlawfully did business with.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who served on the council with Huizar for several years, reacted by gesturing to other councilmembers in a hearing room at the Van Nuys City Hall where the council was holding its meeting on Friday, and said, “As angry as I am about what he did – angry about the betrayal of the public trust, betrayal of all of us here, betrayal to the public – I’m so enraged by what he did.”

But, he went on, “At the same time, I know he’s a person with kids, wife. And so on a personal level I feel bad that this man is going to be spending the next decade of his life not seeing his kids grow up. But justice needs to be done. And what he did is beyond horrible.”

Van Nuys resident Quirino De La Cuesta, who was attending the city council meeting on Friday said, “I don’t (wish) ill on anyone, but he did the crime. He has to do the time. If he did the crime, he has to take accountability. I feel sad for his family.”

Huizar represented Council District 14, which includes downtown Los Angeles and its surrounding communities, from 2005 until his resignation in 2020. According to his lawyers, Huizar was “an evangelist for robust development” in efforts to ensure Los Angeles was befitting of a “world-class city.”

In his plea agreement, Huizar admitted to leading the so-called CD-14 Enterprise, which operated as a pay-to-play scheme in which Huizar — assisted by others — illegally used his office to give favorable treatment to real estate developers who financed and facilitated cash bribes, campaign donations and other illicit benefits.

“For years, defendant operated his pay-to-play scheme in the city of Los Angeles to monetize his public position and leverage his political clout for over $1.5 million dollars in cash bribes, gambling chips, luxury trips, political contributions, prostitutes, extravagant meals, services, concerts and other gifts,” according to a memo filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. “If anyone dared rebuff his call to pay bribes, he punished them and their city projects, threatening developers with indefinitely delayed projects and financial peril.”

In his guilty plea, Huizar admitted accepting a $600,000 bribe payment in the form of a “loan” from China-based billionaire real estate developer Wei Huang for use to secretly settle a pending sexual harassment lawsuit against Huizar by a former staffer.

Huang’s downtown Los Angeles-based company was found guilty in 2022 of paying more than $1 million in bribes — including luxury trip expenses, casino gambling chips and the sham loan — to the then-councilman to obtain city approval to build a 77-story mixed-use skyscraper downtown. Huang, who owns a house in San Marino, was also charged in the case but is considered a fugitive believed to be in China, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Due to the scheme, development in the downtown area “is now tainted because of this defendant,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mack Jenkins told the court Friday.

Huizar’s attorney, Charles Snyder, arguing for a nine-year sentence, told the court that his client grew up in poverty in rural Mexico, eventually earned a law degree from UCLA, and was elected to the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District and in 2005 to a seat on the L.A. City Council.

“What makes this case sad is the element of what could have been,” Snyder said.

Defendants in the case include George Esparza, Huizar’s former special assistant, real estate development consultant George Chiang, political fundraiser Justin Jangwoo Kim, and lobbyist Morrie Goldman, among others. Each pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation.

“Five years from now, the only people who will remember whether Mr. Huizar got 9, 10 or 13 years will be the parties and his family, the latter of whom will grow up, grow old and die in his absence,” Huizar’s attorneys wrote in court papers. “For everyone else, specific memories will fade, and even with a nine-year sentence, the lasting message will be that Mr. Huizar confessed and received a lengthy term in prison.”

Huizar’s co-defendant, former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan, who was general manager of the Department of Building and Safety before becoming the city’s deputy mayor of economic development, was charged with racketeering conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud and other counts for allegedly helping Huizar in the bribery scheme.

Chan’s trial is set for Feb. 27. A mistrial was declared in his first trial after his attorney, Harland Braun, was taken ill and could not continue appearing in court.

In a related case, Huizar’s brother, Salvador Huizar, 57, of Boyle Heights, pleaded guilty in October 2022 to lying to federal investigators about accepting cash from his brother on numerous occasions and immediately writing checks back to him or arranging to pay his expenses. Salvador Huizar’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for August.

“No one is above the law,” said Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles. “Today’s sentence shows that even a powerful elected official like Huizar will be held accountable for engaging in criminal misconduct. Huizar was elected to serve the interests of the hard-working people of Los Angeles, but he instead served his own personal interests in a long-running, pay-to-play, bribery scheme. Our community deserves better.”

Los Angeles Daily News reporter Linh Tat contributed to this report.

“We all have our memories,” Jim Steiner, Steiner’s eldest son, told the Orange County Board of Supervisors. “He would often bring children home to spend time with us for the holidays, to experience love and family and laughter.”

But the thing that really showed the young Steiner that his late dad was something special was the day they had to run by the office — Orangewood Children’s Home for abused and neglected kids, which William Steiner muscled into existence by sheer force of will. As they entered a room filled with children, “every kid ran toward him and threw themselves in his arms screaming ‘Mr. Bill’s here!’ He called every one of them by their first names. That’s who our dad was. He truly was a special human being.”

County supervisors were more than pleased to approve a street name change to honor Steiner, who died in 2022, on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The street in front of Orangewood Children’s Home in the city of Orange will heretofore be known as Steiner Way, rather than Justice Center Way.

“My last conversation with your dad was about, of course, a project he was working on in Tustin to help families,” Supervisor Katrina Foley told the Steiner children assembled. “He was very passionate about it – he was really a great example of how, after leaving office, he continued to serve the community. He stayed involved, always tried to find nonpartisan ways to support the community.”

Supervisors and Orange city councilmembers spoke about the support and advice William Steiner gave them on doing their jobs (including the advice his mother once gave him: “You want to hold public office? No! Don’t do it!” He didn’t listen either).

Orange city councilmember Jon Dumitru hopes that, years from now, people will wonder “Who was this Steiner guy?” Google his name and learn about him. “He was an absolute tiger in defense of children who had nobody,” Dumitru said.

This cements a piece of history, honors Steiner’s work, and hopefully inspires others to lean in and do the same, Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said. “He had a special place in his heart for our most vulnerable children.”

A tool meant to ensure transparency and accuracy in the election system, the observation system is open to any member of the public, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

The Registrar has a full schedule on its website of when and what can be observed, but some significant activities include:

• Feb. 6: Observers can watch the accuracy testing of the county’s voting system, from the preparation of test ballots to the scanning of those on all devices. Those watching can also check the processing and counting of mail ballots starting this day; that includes the collection, return process, signature verification and sorting of ballots. Accepted mail ballots, the Registrar notes, cannot be actually counted until 8 p.m. on March 5, the primary day.

• Feb. 24: The first batch of vote centers open on this day where the processing of conditional voter registration and provisional ballots begins and can be observed. More vote centers will open on March 2.

• March 5: It’s Election Day, and watchers can observe as accepted mail ballots as well as in-person votes will begin to be tabulated by the voting system.

• March 15: Observers can watch as the Registrar uses test ballots on all voting devices to ensure the system is still accurately tabulating votes.

Observers are not required to RSVP to take part in the process, said Enedina Chhim, a spokesperson for the Registrar of Voters.

Observers can watch audits and vote tabulations, take notes, challenge whether staff are following procedures and ask questions of a vote center lead or “observation ambassador” (Registrar staff assigned to assist observers, explain processes, answer questions and facilitate observer challenges) as long it does not interrupt the conduct of the election process. Observers will be given a badge upon signing in and must wear it while “maintaining a professional and respectful manner,” according to guidance from the Registrar.

Observers cannot go into an occupied voting booth, display any campaign material, directly challenge a voter, touch election-related equipment or staff, prevent other watchers from observing or use cell phones or cameras outside of designated areas, according to the guidance.

Ballot processing, audits, testing and tallying will occur at the Registrar’s Santa Ana office, 1300 South Grand Ave, Building C, but observers can also visit the vote center and drop box locations around the county to check daily operations there.

In addition to observing in person, the Registrar will set up live streams, including on election night.

More dates and information about election observing can be found at the Registrar’s website, ocvote.gov/observe. Questions can also be directed to the Registrar’s office by calling 714-567-7600.

Sarmiento’s proposed amendment to county policy would broaden the definition of family relationship, defining it as by “blood, adoption, marriage, domestic partnership and cohabitation.” The OC Board of Supervisors is set to consider his proposal at its Tuesday, Dec. 19, meeting.

Do voted with other members of the OC Board of Supervisors to approve funding for the Warner Wellness Center, for which his daughter is currently a vice president, according to her LinkedIn page, without disclosing during the meeting his family connection, as first reported by the LAist.

The county’s conflict of interest policy follows state law, which says public officials cannot make decisions that would financially benefit their minor children. The law does not apply to adult offspring.

“As elected officials, we have an obligation to be as transparent as possible with the public and disclose any potential conflicts of interest, especially when voting to spend taxpayer dollars,” Sarmiento said.

The two subcontracts in question, one for up to $625,000 that was approved in November 2022, and another for up to $1.2 million that was approved in May, were for mental health services, such as for the expansion of the county’s warmline.

Since LAist reported on the votes last month, some community leaders – and The Orange County Register’s editorial board – have called on Do to resign. Do said in a statement there has been no wrongdoing and the article was “null and void.”

“VAS (Viet American Society), the nonprofit mentioned, was already under three previous county contracts during COVID, well before my daughter was hired as an employee to help run its mental health clinic,” Do wrote in an op-ed that ran in the Register in response to the call for his resignation. The Warner Wellness Center is a DBA of the Viet American Society.

“Of note, my daughter was not a director or officer and she did not handle any of the nonprofit’s finances,” wrote Do, who declined to be interviewed for this story. “She did, though, have mental health experience (the Steinberg Institute) and is dual-language fluent — essential for Orange County’s Vietnamese-American community.”

Third District Supervisor Don Wagner said he does not think resignation is called for because Do didn’t do anything wrong.

“He was not just complying with state law, but, as I understand it, checked with counsel to make sure that everything was on the up and up,” Wagner said. “It is hard to see in those stories where more policies or different policies would make any particular difference because he was fully compliant with our policies, fully compliant with state law.”

Do and Fourth District Supervisor Doug Chaffee sit on an ad-hoc committee that oversees the process of updating the county’s contract policy manual.

The Board of Supervisors was at one point scheduled to discuss possible updates for 2024 to the manual at its Nov. 28 meeting, but the item was deleted from the agenda the day before. A county spokesperson said at the time there were “standing questions that need to be clarified” before going to the board.

Chaffee said that in looking at the policy, the committee didn’t rehash what is already in state law or widely accepted, such as the conflict of interest guidelines.

“If a board majority feels there needs to be something stronger in it about the children, it can be done. It could be proposed,” Chaffee said. “We have not had a meeting since that article came out and there’s really no need for it. We’ve done our work. Now it’s up to the board itself to review it. And any board member could suggest a change before we adopt it.”

Tracy La, executive director of nonprofit VietRISE, said it’s important to have transparency in local government.

“The immediate thing was that people need to know about this. If people are not aware that this is happening, who knows how much more money is being funneled to other entities in a similar fashion?” La said. “In our community, it is extremely important that our elected officials are transparent and honest and ethical about the decisions that they make.”

VietRISE, along with the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice, have publicly called for Do to resign from the Board of Supervisors.

“We’re calling for his resignation, but also we’re calling for an audit of contracts that may have involved him,” said Carlos Perea, executive director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice. “The recent allegations specifically around channeling millions of dollars to a nonprofit where his daughter works is something that should raise red flags to the other supervisors. We’re hoping they take a closer look at that, but also hoping that there’s a call for an independent audit investigation on this misuse of public dollars.”

Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley said she asked county counsel to look further into OC’s policy.

“The law in California doesn’t prohibit the contract, but I just think more transparency around the disclosure piece is maybe where we as a county governance can have an impact,” Foley said.

Sarmiento is proposing a new disclosure policy as well as some other additions that would address how board officers submit discretionary fund projects for approval, including having to write how the project would “meet the social needs” of Orange County residents.

He said he is proposing revisions “to prevent these and similar conflicts of interest” from happening again, and said earlier in the week he would be requesting an investigation into the county contracts in question.

With Do termed out and unable to seek reelection, the OC Board of Supervisors is guaranteed at least one new face. Meanwhile, Wagner, who first joined as a supervisor in 2019, will face one challenger in his bid for re-election. County supervisors can serve a maximum of two full, four-year terms.

The five-member Board of Supervisors oversees management of the county’s many departments including animal care, landfills, public works, social services and public health, managing a $9.3 billion budget. The county employs about 18,000 people.

The window to file as a candidate for the two supervisor seats closed Friday. The races will appear on the March 5 presidential primary ballot; if none of the candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two proceed to a November runoff.

Five candidates with past experience in civic leadership are vying for the First District seat that represents Huntington Beach, Westminster, Fountain Valley and parts of Garden Grove on the board.

Qualifying for the ballot are Westminster Councilmember Kimberly Ho; Van Tran, who is currently serving as Do’s chief of staff; Cypress Councilmember Frances Marquez; state Sen. Janet Nguyen; and business owner Michael Vo.

Ho has served on the Westminster City Council since 2016. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UCLA, and doctorate degree in pharmacy from the University of Pacific. She went on to a post doctorate fellowship in research at USC, and later attended UC Irvine where she received an executive masters in business administration. With several years working in the healthcare industry under her belt, Ho said she hopes to better address affordable health care needs in Orange County, particularly for low-income residents. Another one of her priorities as supervisor, she has said, is fostering economic growth within the county by creating an environment that companies want to invest in.

Marquez has said she wants to improve accountability and oversight in county government while delivering health, housing and safety resources to the communities that need them the most. Marquez, who was elected to the Cypress City Council in 2020, is an associate professor of government at Gallaudet University, where she teaches deaf and hard-of-hearing students, helping them pursue careers in public service. She is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, and her father is a veteran who served during the Korean War, she said. She attended OC schools and earned her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and then her master’s and doctorate degrees from Claremont Graduate University.

Nguyen is looking to return to the Board of Supervisors. Following a stint as a Garden Grove councilmember, she represented the First District as a county supervisor and then won a state assembly seat before joining the California Senate. Born in Saigon, Nguyen and her family escaped communist Vietnam and lived in several refugee camps before arriving in California in 1981. She earned her degree from UC Irvine. She says the Board of Supervisors make a direct impact on quality of life, including crime, homelessness, cost of living and health care and she wants to return to help do more.

Currently serving as Do’s chief of staff and as a director at the Orange County Water District, Tran said he wants to prioritize public safety, transportation, public health and economic development. There are a number of issues Tran says he wants to address as supervisor, including maintaining affordable health care and addressing homelessness. He has also said he wants to bring “transparency and accountability” to local government. He previously served as a state assemblymember, and before that was elected to the Garden Grove council.

In his candidate statement, Vo said he is an “independent thinker,” straying away from the two-party system that he says has failed county residents. He previously served on the Fountain Valley City Council and ran for the Board of Supervisors in  2021. His priorities as supervisor include adequate funding going toward law enforcement and emergency response, improving assistance programs for senior citizens and veterans, and constructing affordable housing to address homelessness, he said.

The board’s District 3 includes parts of Anaheim, Irvine, Orange and Tustin and the unincorporated canyon communities. Wagner will go head-to-head with Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan.

Khan says the top issues in the county that need attention are homelessness, mental health, the fentanyl crises and veterans’ needs. Khan became the first woman of color and Muslim woman to lead a large American city when she was elected as Irvine’s mayor in 2020. One of her initiatives that she is most proud of bringing to life during her time as mayor is banning smoking in public places, creating a healthier environment for Irvine residents, she said. She was first elected to the Irvine City Council in 2018, and then as mayor in 2022.

When Wagner announced he’d be running for re-election, he touted his successes in the role, such as collaborating with county officials to build a new mental health facility, funding a veteran’s cemetery in Anaheim Hills and improve public safety. He says he wants to keep that momentum going with another term in office. Wagner previously served as mayor of Irvine, as well as in the state Assembly.

Ballots for the March primary election will start going out to registered voters on Feb. 5.

“Gun locks can save lives — especially in households with children,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement after the vote. “Some studies have found that people are more likely to use gun locks if they are given to them by their doctor or in a medical center to take home and I think it is a concept we should explore for our own County hospitals.”

MORE ON GUNS: California can share gun owners’ personal information with researchers, appeals court rules

The board unanimously approved a motion by Hahn and Supervisor Hilda Solis that calls on county staff to explore ways of implementing the distribution system, similar to programs operating in other hospitals around the country. The county Department of Public Health’s Office of Violence Prevention and the Department of Health Services was directed to provide a written report within 45 days about the number of county-operated hospitals and medical campuses, the number of gun locks that would be needed to begin the program and a proposed procedure for distribution.

The report will also include a proposed timeline for purchasing the locks and the resources needed to obtain them.

“If guns are not safely stored or locked, it can lead to devastating and fatal consequences,” Solis said in a statement. “Gun owners may assume that their families know how to handle a gun, however, if it’s not safely stored or locked, serious injuries or death may result. Hospitals are where many victims end up, and to that end, we can use the opportunity to both educate and provide them with a tangible resource to better protect them and their families from guns — gun locks.”

Like the policy adopted by Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified earlier this month, the proposal is written to solely focus on mental health concerns and has no mention of gender identity. Parental notification policies recently enacted by other California school districts have included a set of guidelines outlining how school administrators or staff will inform parents that their student may be transgender, such as if they request to use different pronouns or changing rooms that differ from their “assigned biological sex at birth.”

Capistrano Unified’s proposed policy says “parents/guardians will be notified if a student is exhibiting symptoms of depression, anxiety, a dramatic shift in academic performance, social withdrawal or other significant changes affecting a student’s well-being.”

Multiple sections of the proposed policy are verbatim to what was enacted by PYLUSD on Oct. 10, with the emphasis placed on mental health concerns. But PYLUSD Superintendent Alex Cherniss said there could be instances when a teacher or school staff member would notify a parent if they became aware that a student desired or began to transition genders, requested to go by a different pronoun or expressed distress because their gender expression does not match their gender identity.

It’s not yet clear if that is also the intent behind Capistrano Unified’s proposal.

The policy comes at the request of Trustee Lisa Davis who did not respond to a request for comment. During a September meeting, Davis did not go into details about what would be included in the policy but said, “As educators, we are mandated reporters, so we are already mandated to report on anything that is concerning over the safety of a child.”

“Due to the current nationwide mental health crisis exacerbated by the global pandemic, the Capistrano Unified School District recognizes the need for frequent, ongoing and oftentimes immediate communication between school administration, staff, and parents/guardians,” the proposed policy reads. “Furthermore, with reports of depression, anxiety and suicide rates at an all-time high among public school students, action is needed to address this emerging crisis and support the health and welfare of district students.”

The proposed policy states that district employees, administrators and certificated staff are to “collaborate with parents in evaluating the needs of students having academic, attendance, social, emotional, or behavioral difficulties and in identifying strategies and programs that may assist such students in maximizing their potential.”

It specifically instructs district officials to involve a principal or school counselor as soon as they become aware that a student may have suicidal intentions based on their verbalizations or acts of self-harm. In this instance, the principal is to immediately secure medical treatment or mental health services, keep the student under continuous adult supervision until a parent or appropriate support agency is able to intervene and notify law enforcement and other emergency assistance if suicide is actively being threatened.

Capistrano Unified’s proposal also says officials should notify parents if their child is in possession of a prohibited substance, experiences sexual harassment or is involved in a verbal or physical altercation.

In other districts that have adopted these policies, situations that would warrant alerting a parent include requests to use different names or pronouns or requests to change sex-segregated programs (like athletic teams or changing facilities) that differ from the student’s “assigned biological sex at birth.” Those policies also include notification guidelines if a student reports self-harm, suicidal ideation or injury to others.

Capistrano Unified would become the latest California school district — and third in Orange County —to enact what’s been dubbed a parental notification policy if adopted on Wednesday.

Orange Unified was the first Orange County school district to adopt the policy in early September; PYLUSD became the second last week. And many parental rights activist groups say they will attend Tustin Unified’s next meeting to encourage the policy to be addressed there.

Capistrano Unified has 63 campuses, making it the largest district in Orange County. The district includes the cities of San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita.

The Capistrano Unified board is set to meet at 33122 Valle Rd. in San Juan Capistrano at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Walter Schwarm last week ordered the city to pay additional fees, bringing the total to $715,137. The city is disputing at least some of those awarded fees, City Attorney Bill Curley said.

City leaders intended to transition to a new cumulative style of voting in Mission Viejo in response to complaints that its election process diluted the voting power of minority residents. It would have required all council members to be elected at the same time, so three seats were elected to two-year terms in 2018 to even things out. The change was ultimately abandoned because of pushback from the state, and the city instead instituted district-based voting last year, which required council terms to be staggered again.

In 2022, Schwarm ruled three councilmembers — Ed Sachs, Greg Raths and Wendy Bucknum — had stayed longer than the two years to which voters elected them in 2018 and would need to vacate their seats. (Bucknum is the only one who is still a councilmember following the elections last year.)

Mission Viejo resident Michael Schlesinger filed legal action in 2021 challenging whether the three councilmembers’ tenure should have been prolonged as city officials worked out the new city-wide voting system, which they said took longer than expected. City officials argued because the city didn’t change its election process, the terms reverted back to their original four years in the city code.

Bucknum, Raths and Sachs were removed from office in November 2022, but the ruling did not bar them from running for reelection. Bucknum won her election to her seat. However, due to how the new districts were drawn, Raths and Sachs had to run in the same district. They lost to Councilmember Cynthia Vasquez.

“These attorneys’ fee awards vindicate our efforts to hold the city and the City Council accountable,” said Schlesinger. “What is sad is that all the city and the City Council had to do was simply follow the law.”

Schlesinger also successfully challenged the plan to extend the terms of Councilmembers Trish Kelley and Brian Goodell, who were elected in 2020, by an additional two years. Schwarm ordered that all five seats be on the ballot last year.

“In simple terms, Goodell, Kelley, Sachs, Bucknum and Raths tried to deprive myself and my fellow citizens of the right to vote,” said Schlesinger. “They got caught and are paying the consequences for their despicable and unprecedented actions.”

Neither Bucknum, Goodell, Kelley, Raths or Sachs responded to requests for comment.

While the issue involving the length of councilmembers’ terms has been decided, the city is still in a dispute over the attorneys’ fees, Curley said.

“As to the money that plaintiff’s legal counsel now seek from city taxpayers, the city notes that the total amount sought in court filings by plaintiff’s three law firms was some $1.2 million,” Curley said, pointing out the trial court awarded about half of that.

The city is appealing the award of fees in one case and might in another, he said.

“I do not think any of us expected to spend this much time on the case,” said attorney Aaron Hand, who represents Schlesinger. “Because of the efforts the city went through to delay the process, to push out a resolution and the legal battle they decided to put us in, we all ended up spending more time fighting out attorney fees than we did over the substance of the case.”

As it’s written, the policy focuses on mental health, saying a designated school counselor would notify a student’s family “when they have reasonable cause to believe that doing so will avert a clear and present danger to the health, safety or welfare” of students.

During the board’s discussion about the policy, Superintendent Alex Cherniss said there could be instances when a teacher or school staff member would notify parents when they become aware that a student desires or starts to transition genders, requests to go by a different pronoun or experiences distress because their gender expression does not match their gender identity.

“Every case you have to weigh the implications and if it is impacting the students to a certain level where the parent has a right to know,” said Cherniss.

Trustee Todd Frazier, responding to questions about the policy, cited DSM-5, the standard guide for mental health diagnoses.

“If you look at the DSM-5 definition of gender dysphoria, which it is in there … that is a pattern of behavior that is different in a student (and) regardless of what the reason is, needs to be communicated with the parents,” he said.

When asked if the policy would require teachers to inform parents if a student identifies as LGBTQ+, Cherniss said: “If the teacher or staff does not deem there to be a clear or present danger to the student, no, they do not have to report it to the family. That is up to the teacher or staff’s discretion.”

Trustees Carrie Buck and Marilyn Anderson criticized the policy’s language as “not clear” since it didn’t explicitly mention students who might be transgender. They requested a second reading in November, but that was denied.

“I think, as someone who is representing the student voice, the language should be specifically outlined in the policy to make sure all students are aware of the policy and what could happen if such things arose,” said Aidan Mintzer, a Yorba Linda High School student who is the student representative on the board.

“Before this, I had no idea what the policy was about,” said Mintzer. “If this does affect me or other students, I believe students deserve to know how it will directly involve them.”

The board voted 3-2 to approve the policy Tuesday, Oct. 10 with Trustees Leandra Blades, Shawn Youngblood and Frazier voting in favor of it.

“This is not a gender notification policy,” said Fraizer. “This is a parental notification policy. This is not covering one specific issue. Just because politically that is what is being discussed and people want to politicize this, we want to make clear that this is something that will ultimately strengthen the relationship between staff and students.”

PYLUSD now joins several other school districts in California that have recently adopted policies that require school staff to inform parents if their child may be transgender. These policies typically include provisions requiring notification if a student requests to use a different name or pronoun or wishes to change a sex-segregated program like an athletic team or changing facility that differs from their assigned sex at birth.

Orange Unified last month became the first district in Orange County to adopt such a policy.

There, the policy requires a certificated staff member or principal to inform parents if their child, who is under the age of 12, requests to use different names or pronouns or asks to change sex-segregated programs. If the student is older, it is up to the discretion of a school counselor or psychologist to decide if it is appropriate to report the information to the family.

On Oct. 18, Capistrano Unified is set to consider a similar proposal, and many parental rights activist groups say they will attend Tustin Unified’s next meeting to encourage the policy to be addressed there.

This story has been updated.