The President of the Los Angeles City Council is the presiding officer of the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the Legislature, lawmaking body for the Government of Los Angeles, city government of Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States. It has 15 members who each represent the 15 city council ...

. The president presides as chair over meetings of the council and assignments to City Council committees and handles parliamentary duties like ruling motions in or out of order. The president automatically becomes an acting mayor when the mayor is out of state. Since 2020, the president has been elected at the first scheduled council meeting in January of even-numbered years. The current president is

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Marqueece Harris-Dawson Marqueece L. Harris-Dawson (born November 7, 1969) is an American politician, currently serving as the president of the Los Angeles City Council since September 20, 2024. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, who has ...

, who took office on September 20, 2024.

History

Early history

The office of the President was created with the introduction of the

Los Angeles Common Council The Los Angeles Common Council was the predecessor of the Los Angeles, California, City Council. It was formed in 1850 under state law, when the city had only 1,610 residents, and it existed until 1889, when the city had about 50,400 residents an ...

in 1850, with one of the members of the Council serving as the President. The first president of the Common Council was pioneer

David W. Alexander David W. Alexander (June 22, 1812 – April 29, 1886) was an early California politician and pioneer in Los Angeles County, California. He was on the Board of Supervisors in 1853 and 1854, and in 1855 he was elected the third sheriff for the count ...

, who was elected in 1850 before resigning a year later.Clare Wallace, Los Angeles Public Library Reference File, April 26, 1939, with sources as listed there
/ref> In 1889, the

was created under the first city charter, though the office stayed relatively the same.

New city charter

In 1965, the job of President Pro Tempore was created to preside during the absence of the President, with the first officer being councilman Thomas D. Shepard. Shepard presided when L. E. Timberlake became acting mayor due to mayor

Sam Yorty Samuel William Yorty (October 1, 1909 – June 5, 1998) was an American politician, attorney, and radio host from Los Angeles, California. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the California State Assembly, ...

traveling outside the country. The assistant pro tempore was created in 1977 with councilman

Ernani Bernardi Ernani Bernardi (October 29, 1911 – January 4, 2006) was a big band musician and politician. Bernardi served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1961 to 1993, representing 7th district and becoming the second longest-serving council member in ...

as the officer, who presided over meeting if both the President and the President Pro Tempore are out. Councilman

John Ferraro John Ferraro (May 14, 1924 – April 17, 2001) was an American politician and businessman who was a Democratic member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1966 until his death in 2001, the longest tenure of any member in the city's history. Bef ...

is the longest serving president, serving for 20 years in two terms. The first woman to be elected as the City Council president was

Pat Russell Pat Russell (December 31, 1923 – February 11, 2021) was an American community activist and member of the Los Angeles City Council. She was the fourth woman to serve on that city council (1969–87) and the first woman to be City Council presi ...

, who held the title until 1987 when she was defeated in the City Council elections. The first Latino elected was

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla (born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democrati ...

in 2001 after defeating incumbent

Ruth Galanter Ruth Galanter (born ) is an American politician, environmentalist and consultant with a background in urban planning. She served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1987 to 2003. She is known for supporting "slow growth" policies on the city's ...

; he served as acting mayor days after the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

as mayor

James Hahn James Kenneth Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, Hahn was elected the 40th mayor of Los Angeles in 2001. He served until 2005, at which time he was defeated in his bid for re-election. Prior to his term a ...

traveled out of the city. The first African-American president was

Herb Wesson Herman J. "Herb" Wesson Jr. (born November 11, 1951) is an American politician who served as a councilmember representing the 10th District for three terms between July 1, 2005 and December 14, 2020, and again on an appointed basis from March 2 ...

, who was elected in 2012 and served until 2020. The first Latina president was Nury Martinez, who was elected in 2020 and served until 2022.

Responsibilities

*presiding over meetings of the council. *giving assignments to City Council committees. *handling parliamentary duties like ruling motions in or out of order. *serving as an

acting mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

for the

Mayor of Los Angeles The mayor of Los Angeles is the head of the executive branch of the government of Los Angeles and the chief executive of Los Angeles. The office is officially Non-partisan democracy, nonpartisan, a change made in the 1909 charter; previously, ...

if the office is vacant.

List of presidents (1919–present)

References

{{Los Angeles Speakers of city councils