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Office Lease Portfolio / Office Space / Leasing Cost / City Resources / Civilian Workforce Telecommute / Lease Consolidation

Council File 25-0357

In progress — the City is analyzing whether it's leasing far more office space than needed as remote work has become permanent. All required reports are now in, but committees haven't yet scheduled hearings to decide what changes to make.

Introduced
2025-04-04
Last changed
2026-05-22
Status
open
Expires
2028-05-21
Committee
Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee
Mover
MONICA RODRIGUEZ
Second
MARQUEECE HARRIS-DAWSON
References
Chief Legislative Analyst Report: 25-05-0431City Administrative Officer Report: 0220-06395-0000

Brief

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez's April 2025 motion directed an investigation into whether Los Angeles is overpaying for office space given widespread remote work among its 50,000+ employees. The motion tasked General Services, IT, CAO, and the Chief Legislative Analyst with inventorying leases, home equipment costs, departmental telecommute policies, and best practices from other California cities. Council adopted it 12-0-3 on May 16, 2025. All four required reports have been submitted as of May 2026 and referred to committee, but no hearings or further action are scheduled.

Full summary

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez introduced this motion in April 2025, arguing that the City of Los Angeles — which employs over 50,000 people — may be paying for far more office space than it actually needs. The core concern is that while the City funds a large lease portfolio to support its full workforce, many civilian employees work from home a majority of the time under department-by-department telecommute arrangements that were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and never unified into a citywide policy. Labor agreements also contain workspace requirements for employees that may be outdated given how dramatically office usage has changed. The motion directed four sets of analysis. The General Services Department, with CAO assistance, was instructed to produce a full inventory of the City's office leases, including space and cost data for each. The Information Technology Agency was directed to document the costs and inventory of at-home workstation equipment supplied to City employees. The CAO was asked to map telecommuting policies across all departments and analyze whether consolidating leases, standardizing departmental policies, and renegotiating labor agreement workspace standards could produce meaningful cost savings. The Chief Legislative Analyst was separately asked to survey how other California jurisdictions handle telecommuting and return-to-work policies, providing a comparative policy benchmark. The motion cleared both the Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee and the Government Operations Committee in late April 2025. Personnel and Hiring waived its review, and the full Council adopted the motion on May 16, 2025, by a vote of 12-0-3. Subsequent to adoption, the Information Technology Agency submitted its at-home equipment cost and inventory report in July 2025, the Chief Legislative Analyst provided a comparative jurisdictional analysis in October 2025, the General Services Department submitted its office space report in March 2026, and the CAO delivered its analysis on May 21, 2026. All of these reports have been referred to the three original committees for review. As of late May 2026, the file remains open with no scheduled committee hearings or further Council action yet announced.

Activity (21)

  • 2026-05-22 City Administrative Officer document(s) referred to Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee; Government Operations Committee; Personnel and Hiring Committee.
  • 2026-05-21 Document submitted by City Administrative Officer, dated May 21, 2026.
  • 2026-03-13 General Services Department document(s) referred to Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee; Government Operations Committee; Personnel and Hiring Committee.
  • 2026-03-13 Document submitted by General Services Department, dated March 13, 2026.
  • 2026-02-03 Government Operations Committee continued item to a date to be determined.
  • 2026-01-29 Government Operations Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on February 3, 2026.
  • 2025-10-24 Chief Legislative Analyst document(s) referred to Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee; Government Operations Committee; Personnel and Hiring Committee.
  • 2025-10-24 Document submitted by Chief Legislative Analyst, dated October 24, 2025.
  • 2025-07-08 Information Technology Agency document(s) referred to Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee; Government Operations Committee; Personnel and Hiring Committee.
  • 2025-07-07 Document(s) submitted by Information Technology Agency, as follows:Information Technology Agency report, dated July 7, 2025, relative to the City Department's cost and inventory associated with At-Home work station equipment.
  • 2025-05-20 Council action final.
  • 2025-05-16 Council adopted item, subject to reconsideration, pursuant to Council Rule 51.
  • 2025-05-13 City Clerk scheduled item for Council on May 16, 2025.
  • 2025-05-09 Personnel and Hiring Committee waived consideration of item .
  • 2025-04-23 Government Operations Committee transmitted Council File to Personnel and Hiring Committee.
  • 2025-04-23 Government Operations Committee approved item(s) .
  • 2025-04-21 Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee transmitted Council File to Government Operations Committee and Personnel and Hiring Committee.
  • 2025-04-21 Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee approved item(s) .
  • 2025-04-18 Government Operations Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on April 23, 2025.
  • 2025-04-18 Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on April 21, 2025.
  • 2025-04-04 Motion referred to Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee; Government Operations Committee; Personnel and Hiring Committee.

Documents (14)

Council votes (1)

  • 2025-05-16 Adopted — 12-0-3 · Regular

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