1 REVISED
October 13, 2026
Honorable Mayor and City Council
City of Long Beach
California
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation to receive and file a presentation and conduct a study session on the proposed Long Beach Framework for Accountability, Integrity, and Reporting (FAIR) Act, and provide City staff with further direction to incorporate within the proposed FAIR Act, as appropriate. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The City of Long Beach (“City”) has a number of laws, policies, guidelines, and administrative practices governing ethics, conflicts of interest, lobbying, gifts, use of City resources, political activities, and related matters. These requirements are currently contained in various provisions of the Long Beach Municipal Code, State law, City policies, best practices, and other regulations rather than in a single comprehensive ordinance.
The City’s Ethics Commission identified an opportunity to consolidate these requirements and best practices into a comprehensive framework and developed recommendations for a new ordinance. Building on those recommendations, the proposed Framework for Accountability, Integrity, and Reporting (FAIR) Act aims to consolidate the City’s ethics policies, guidelines, best practices, and legal requirements into a single ordinance, while also proposing amendments to the City’s lobbying regulations intended to improve transparency in the City’s decision-making processes.
As currently drafted, the FAIR Act consists of ten chapters addressing General Provisions; Code of Conduct and Ethics; Conflicts of Interest; Use of City Resources; Gifts, Meals, and Entertainment; Outside Activities; Political Activities; Ex Parte Contacts and Fair Hearings; Lobbying; and Donations, Sponsorships, and Fundraising.
On November 18, 2025, the City Council approved a recommendation to continue the development of the FAIR Act and directed the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance consolidating the City's ethics policies, guidelines, best practices, and legal requirements. The Council action also referred the proposed ordinance to the Government Operations and Efficiency (GO&E) Committee for public input, discussion, and feedback on the proposed provisions.
The GO&E Committee subsequently began its review of the proposal. On March 10, 2026, staff City Manager
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 10th Floor, Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 570-6711
Honorable Mayor and City Council
October 13, 2026
presented the FAIR Act to the Committee, with the discussion focusing primarily on the proposed lobbying chapter. The Committee raised questions regarding definitions, exemptions, calendaring requirements, anticipated staffing and operational impacts, enforcement mechanisms, and fiscal implications, and requested that staff conduct additional research and return with responses. Staff subsequently conducted additional research and analysis and prepared responses to the Committee's questions in a memorandum dated April 20, 2026 (attached). On April 21, 2026, the Committee ultimately recommended that the item be returned to the full City Council as a study session, along with a support position for the use of a calendar tracking mechanism to be included in the FAIR Act.
The FAIR Act has undergone substantial review and discussion at the Ethics Commission, City Council, and GO&E Committee. The GO&E Committee's review has helped identify a number of policy questions and implementation considerations that extend beyond the initial development of the proposal. The purpose of this study session is to provide the full City Council with an overview of the FAIR Act's development and provide an opportunity for Council to discuss the policy direction it would like staff to pursue.
Following Council discussion and direction, staff will continue to refine the FAIR Act proposal.
Staff will also continue coordinating with the City Attorney, City Auditor, City Prosecutor, City Clerk, Ethics Commission, Human Resources, and other affected departments and stakeholders as the proposal is further developed. The goal of this process is to return to City Council with an ordinance that establishes clear and meaningful ethics and transparency standards.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Millicent Usoro on October 5, 2026, and by Revenue Management Officer Valerie Valentine on October 7, 2026.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
There is no urgency with this recommendation. Staff recommend hearing the study session on October 13, 2026, to be responsive to the original Committee request.
FISCAL IMPACT
The development and implementation of the FAIR Act will likely have operational and fiscal implications beyond the City's currently budgeted resources. Staff have identified potential impacts across multiple departments and functions, including administration of lobbying requirements, calendar disclosures, technology, training, compliance assistance, and enforcement. Drafting the ordinance is anticipated to have a significant staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties and is consistent with existing City Council priorities. In order to prepare the draft ordinance, the proposal will require meet and confer with impacted labor unions. There is no local job impact associated with this recommendation.
The City Clerk's Office currently has limited capacity to provide additional oversight of lobbying and calendaring systems beyond existing State and local requirements. Any new responsibilities resulting from the FAIR Act would therefore need to be considered as part of the City's budget process. The proposal will also require a formal meet-and-confer process with affected labor unions because of potential changes to employee roles and responsibilities.
Honorable Mayor and City Council
October 13, 2026
Staff also explored potential technology solutions for calendar disclosures, with an initial implementation estimate of approximately $74,000, including annual maintenance, hosting, and data migration, and approximately $350,000 over five years. There is currently no funding source identified for this proposal, and any potential appropriations would have to be determined through a future budget process. A standardized spreadsheet-based approach modeled by the City of Santa Clara is currently viewed by Technology and Innovation Department staff as the most cost-effective option within existing capacity for the calendar disclosure requirements of the proposed FAIR Act, although resources would still be needed for training, policy development, administration, and ongoing support.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas B. Modica
City Manager
ATTACHMENTS