The Board of Supervisors is responsible for establishing policy to guide the administrative functions of County departments. Board policies are established either by ordinance in the Los Angeles County Code or as a result of an order of the Board.

This online Board Policy Manual contains administrative policies adopted by the Board of Supervisors that apply to all or most County departments and that are not codified in the County Code, nor contained in the County’s Fiscal Manual or other County administrative manuals. The Board Policy Manual will be continually updated to reflect current policy.

When adopting policy on an administrative matter, the Board of Supervisors may instruct a specific County department to develop the written statement reflecting the Board’s policy. If no department is designated, the Executive Officer will determine the appropriate department based on the subject matter of the policy to be written. The County departments that generally will prepare administrative Policy Manual statements include Affirmative Action, Auditor-Controller, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Information Office, County Counsel, Executive Office of the Board of Supervisors, Human Resources, Internal Services, and Treasurer and Tax Collector. The Executive Office of the Board of Supervisors is responsible for ensuring that policies are reviewed in accordance with their sunset review dates. In most instances, Policy Manual statements must be approved by the Audit Committee as described below.

Each policy statement shall be prepared in a standard format as set forth in Policy No. 1.020 of this manual. A department that drafts a Policy Manual statement is responsible for establishing internal reviews and controls to ensure the information contained in a policy statement is accurate. All such statements must be reviewed and approved by the department head.

Questions regarding maintenance of the manual should be directed to the Executive Office’s Commission Services Division at (213) 974-1431

When preparing a Policy Manual statement for inclusion in the manual, download the Policy Manual Form template into your word processing software. (See Section “1.010 Policy Template Downloading Procedures”.) Enter the text of the Policy Manual statement onto the template and save it.

1.

When the Board of Supervisors establishes a new County administrative policy on its own initiative, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies the responsible department of the Board’s action.

2.

The responsible department then drafts the policy manual statement, which must be approved by the department head, and submits the draft to the Audit Committee by sending e-mail to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. In addition, any accompanying documentation such as a Board letter or previous policy statement should be sent to: Audit Committee, c/o Commission Services, 500 West Temple Street, Room B50, Los Angeles, CA 90012. A representative of the responsible department is required to attend the Audit Committee meeting in order to answer any questions that the Committee Members may have and it is the responsibility of each department to ensure that an appropriate sunset review date has been assigned for each policy.

A.

If directed to submit the policy to the Board of Supervisors, the Department will prepare and submit the policy to the Board for approval. The responsible department should ensure that the draft policy conforms to the standardized policy format including a recommended sunset date of no more than four years unless otherwise stated. The Commission Services Division of the Executive Office will review the format and upon approval of the Board of Supervisors, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office reviews the Policy Manual statement to ensure that it is in the correct format, makes non-substantive changes, as needed, (deleting the old Policy Manual statement; assigning a policy number, unless the Department is replacing an obsolete policy; and adding the approving Board Order information, if necessary) and uploads the new statement onto the County Intranet web site.

B.

Otherwise, the Audit Committee reviews the recommended policy from the responsible department and the related Board Order and either submits a Board Letter to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office in accordance with standard Board Letter procedures, making a recommendation to the Board to accept revision(s) or repeal the policy; or notifies the Executive Office’s Commission Services Division at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov to upload the policy as reflected per the originating Board Order.

1.

If the Board accepts revision(s) to the policy, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies County departments of the Board’s action in the usual manner, assigns and records a new sunset review date, if needed, and uploads the Policy Manual statement with the new sunset review date onto the County Intranet web site.

2.

If the Board repeals the policy, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies County departments of the Board’s action in the usual manner and deletes the Policy Manual Statement from the County Intranet web site.

3.

If the Board changes and approves the revised policy, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies the responsible department.

a.

The responsible department redrafts the Policy Manual statement based on the Board’s direction and submits the draft, which must have the department head’s approval, to the Audit Committee by sending e-mail to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. In addition, any accompanying documentation such as a Board letter or previous policy statement should be sent to: Audit Committee, c/o Commission Services, 500 West Temple Street, Room B50, Los Angeles, CA 90012. A representative of the responsible department is required to attend the Audit Committee meeting in order to answer any questions that the Committee Members may have.

b.

The Audit Committee notifies the responsible department of approval of the Policy Manual statement or directs the department to make changes and to resubmit the Policy Manual statement to the Committee for additional review.

c.

Upon receipt of approval from the Audit Committee, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office submits the statement as an attachment to an e-mail message directed to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. The Synopsis Number and meeting date at which the Board approved the policy must be referenced in the transmittal message. No paper copies of this material are required.

d.

The Commission Services Division of the Executive Office reviews the Policy Manual statement to ensure that it is in the correct format, makes non-substantive changes (including adding the approving Board Order information), as needed, deletes the old Policy Manual statement and uploads the new statement onto the County Intranet web site.

1.

When a department has developed an administrative policy recommendation on its own initiative and is seeking the Board’s approval of the policy and of a related Policy Manual statement:

A.

The department includes the Policy Manual statement as an attachment to the Board Letter and submits the Board letter and attachment to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office in accordance with standard Board Letter Procedures.

B.

If the Board approves the Policy Manual statement as drafted by the department, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies the responsible department, reviews the statement to ensure that it is in the correct format, makes non-substantive changes (including adding the approving Board Order information), as needed, and uploads the Policy Manual statement onto the County Intranet web site.

2.

If the Board approves the policy, but makes changes to the policy that affect the draft Policy Manual statement:

A.

The Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies the responsible department of the approval with modifications.

B.

The responsible department redrafts the Policy Manual statement based on the Board’s direction and submits the draft, which must have the department head’s approval, to the Audit Committee by sending e-mail to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov and sending a carbon copy to the Executive Office’s Commission Services Division at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. In addition, any accompanying documentation such as a Board letter or previous policy statement should be sent to: Audit Committee, c/o Commission Services, 500 West Temple Street, Room B50, Los Angeles, CA 90012. A representative of the responsible department is required to attend the Audit Committee meeting in order to answer any questions that the Committee Members may have and it is the responsibility of each department to ensure that an appropriate sunset review date has been assigned for each policy.

C.

The Audit Committee notifies the responsible department of approval of the Policy Manual statement or directs the department to make changes and to resubmit the Policy Manual statement to the Committee for additional review.

D.

Upon receipt of approval of the final Policy Manual statement from the Audit Committee, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office submits the statement as an attachment to an e-mail message directed to the Executive Office’s Commission Services Division at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. The Synopsis Number and meeting date at which the Board approved the policy must be referenced in the transmittal message. No paper copies of this material are required.

E.

The Commission Services Division of the Executive Office reviews the Policy Manual statement to ensure that it is in the correct format; makes non-substantive changes, as needed, and uploads the Policy Manual statement onto the County Intranet web site.

The Commission Services Division of the Executive Office of the Board of Supervisors is responsible for inputting and controlling the sunset review of the Board Policies included in this manual. A standard four-year sunset review date will be applied unless otherwise approved by the Audit Committee.

1.

Three months prior to the sunset review date contained in the Policy Manual statement, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office sends notice of the required sunset review to the responsible department, with a copy to the Audit Committee. The notice shall contain a deadline of six (6) weeks from the date of the notice by which the responsible department shall submit a recommendation and, if needed, a revised Policy Manual statement to the Audit Committee for consideration (This notification does not include Policies 7.010 and 7.020 which are annually updated by the State of California and the United States Federal Government, respectively).

2.

The responsible department submits a recommendation, which must have the department head’s approval, to the Audit Committee by sending e-mail to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. In addition, any accompanying documentation such as a Board letter or previous policy statement should be sent to: Audit Committee, c/o Commission Services, 500 West Temple Street, Room B50, Los Angeles, CA 90012. A representative of the responsible department is required to attend the Audit Committee meeting in order to answer any questions that the Committee Members may have.

3.

The Audit Committee reviews the recommendation from the responsible department and either submits a Board Letter to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office in accordance with standard Board Letter procedures, making a recommendation to the Board to accept revision(s) or repeal the policy; or notifies the Executive Office’s Commission Services Division at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov to extend the policy.

A.

If the Board accepts revision(s) to the policy, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies County departments of the Board’s action in the usual manner, assigns and records a new sunset review date, if needed, and uploads the Policy Manual statement with the new sunset review date onto the County Intranet web site.

B.

If the Board repeals the policy, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies County departments of the Board’s action in the usual manner and deletes the Policy Manual Statement from the County Intranet web site.

C.

If the Board changes and approves the revised policy, Commission Services Division of the Executive Office notifies the responsible department.

1.

The responsible department redrafts the Policy Manual statement based on the Board’s direction and submits the draft, which must have the department head’s approval, to the Audit Committee by sending e-mail to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. In addition, any accompanying documentation such as a Board letter or previous policy statement should be sent to: Audit Committee, c/o Commission Services, 500 West Temple Street, Room B50, Los Angeles, CA 90012. A representative of the responsible department is required to attend the Audit Committee meeting in order to answer any questions that the Committee Members may have.

2.

The Audit Committee notifies the responsible department of approval of the Policy Manual statement or directs the department to make changes and to resubmit the Policy Manual statement to the Committee for additional review.

3.

Upon receipt of approval from the Audit Committee, the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office submits the statement as an attachment to an e-mail message directed to the Commission Services Division of the Executive Office at AuditComm@bos.lacounty.gov. No paper copies of this material are required.

4.

The Commission Services Division of the Executive Office reviews the Policy Manual statement to ensure that it is in the correct format, makes non-substantive changes, as needed, deletes the old Policy Manual statement and uploads the new statement onto the County Intranet web site.