What do county supervisors do?

The five county supervisors are some of the most powerful people in Orange County, deciding about $9 billion in spending each year on key government services like public health, mental health, law enforcement and child protective services.

They oversee much of the social safety net for O.C.’s most vulnerable residents. They control how much funding goes to key law enforcement agencies — like the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office— and can influence how it’s spent. They’re also the bosses of public health officials and can have a major impact on things like mask requirements during a pandemic and how much information — or how little — the public gets. And whether that information is accurate.

Many former county supervisors have moved on to state or federal office after their time on the board — including U.S. Reps. Michelle Steel and Lou Correa, former U.S. Ambassador and Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez and former state Sen. John Moorlach.

If you live in an unincorporated part of Orange County — like North Tustin, Ladera Ranch, Rossmoor, Orange Park Acres and the canyon communities — the Board of Supervisors works essentially as your city council. That means the supervisors control local laws and oversee services like roads, police services, trash pickup and development.

You can find a map of all the unincorporated communities here.

There also are many areas where supervisors set policy and decide on spending across the entire county, including in the incorporated cities. They include:

• Jails, juvenile detention and probation
• Child protective services and foster care
• Social services
• Mental health services (CalOptima, the county public health insurance program, also provides some mental health services)
• Public health, particularly the pandemic response (none of O.C.’s cities have their own health department)
• Sheriff’s Department budget, staff pay, service contracts and jail expansion 
• District Attorney’s Office budget, staff pay, service contracts and whether or not to investigate alleged misconduct

Each supervisor has a lot of authority to do what they want in their district with county resources. County officials call it “district prerogative,” where the full board defers to individual supervisors when it comes to their district.

Their role in transportation, homelessness, housing

The supervisors have a powerful role in overseeing transportation in Orange County. That includes how — and how much — to invest in freeway projects, major roads, buses, trains and bike lanes. All five supervisors are on the governing board of the Orange County Transportation Authority, which decides on transportation funding and projects for highways and public transit. That includes whether to cut bus service and whether to add toll lanes on the 405 Freeway.

The supervisors also oversee the main funding for homeless services and shelters in Orange County, including which nonprofit groups do much of this work and to what extent they’re held accountable for services. Additionally, the supervisors play a major role in how much — or how little — homelessness funding the county seeks in state and federal grants for things like converting motels into permanent supportive housing. (There was controversy about that a few years ago.) Each individual effectively decides how much shelter and housing for unhoused people is created in their district with federal and state grants that flow through the county.

When it comes to housing, county supervisors can choose whether to work with leaders of the county’s 34 cities to address the housing crisis — a type of collaboration some supervisors have pushed back on in years past. The supervisors also decide whether to approve new home developments in unincorporated areas, which is where most of O.C.’s undeveloped land is. That’s been controversial in recent years, including their approval of hundreds of homes in hills that frequently burn in wildfires.

District boundaries

Supervisors are elected to four-year terms and can serve for up to two terms consecutively. After that, they can’t run for a third consecutive term. But the limits only apply to consecutive terms. So former supervisors can run again if they have a gap in time on the board. Don Wagner, who was elected to District 3 in 2019 and is the current board chair, won the March primary outright with more than 60% of the vote

The current district boundaries went into effect in early 2022:

You might recognize the supervisors’ work from …

COVID: County supervisors took on a high-profile role during the coronavirus pandemic — influencing whether the county had a mask mandate and overseeing the public health response, mass testing sites, and weekly news conferences. (At some of the press conferences, a supervisor claimed falsely that local coronavirus numbers were improving at the time.) After the weekly updates ended in mid-2021, there was controversy when two supervisors blocked county health experts from participating in further news conferences about it.

Homelessness: A court battle drew national attention when county supervisors moved in 2018 to evict hundreds of unhoused people from the Santa Ana riverbed — at a time shelters were full and every O.C. city banned camping in public. The case, overseen by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, prompted the county and many O.C. cities to move faster in creating more shelter beds. But a shelter and housing shortage remains in O.C., as thousands continue to sleep on local streets.

Jailhouse informants scandal: One of SoCal’s biggest law enforcement scandals in recent history emerged publicly a decade ago when judges found that sheriff and DA officials cheated to win convictions. It led to reduced sentences — even freedom — for dozens of people convicted of crimes, including murder. The misconduct was confirmed by courts, internal investigations and the U.S. Department of Justice. It was twofold: misusing jailhouse informants — commonly known as snitches — and hiding information about that practice from defendants. At one point years ago, a majority of county supervisors rejected a request by one of their colleagues to have the county’s law enforcement watchdog look into whether the misconduct was continuing.

Supervisor Andrew Do’s family contracting controversy: An ethics controversy has swirled in recent months, after LAist uncovered over $13 million Supervisor Do directed to a group led on and off by his 22 year-old daughter — much of it awarded outside of the public’s view — without disclosing his family connection to other supervisors or the public. More than $6 million of it was provided after the group had failed to submit required federal audits showing what it did with millions in taxpayer money.

In August, federal agents searched the homes of Rhiannon Do, Andrew Do and his wife, O.C. Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham. The county also sued Viet America Society, Rhiannon Do and other leaders of the group, saying they "brazenly plundered" public funds for personal gain.

Then, in September, the O.C. Board of Supervisors (without Supervisor Do present) voted to censure their colleague amid the fraud allegations. The supervisors also approved transparency reforms, and updates to the current contract policy manual in response to the Do allegations.

District 1

This western O.C. district includes almost all of Little Saigon, and encompasses all of Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cypress, La Palma, Westminster, Fountain Valley and most of Garden Grove.

The two top vote getters in the March primary advanced to the Nov. 5 showdown. The winner will replace current Supervisor Andrew Do, who cannot run because he’s termed out.

The candidates

(

Frances Marquez for Orange County Supervisor 2024

)

Frances Marquez

Cypress City Council Member, Democrat

Marquez is a former legislative director for U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal. She touts her experience at the House of Representatives, where, among other things, she says she helped secure funding for a local science and math program.

Marquez has often been the lone dissenting voice on the Cypress council, and was censured twice by the rest of the council in 2022. She recently filed a federal lawsuit against city leaders over the censures, claiming they were retaliation for her support for district elections.

She has spoken repeatedly about the Do family contracting controversy during public comment at Board of Supervisors meetings. “The corruption that has taken place is an affront to every resident of Orange County,” Marquez said at a September board meeting. (Her microphone was soon cut off when board president Donald Wagner said her comments had veered into a campaign speech.)

Some platform highlights:

• “Rooting out corruption with more transparency and accountability”
• “Preventing and reducing homelessness by improving access to housing and mental health services”
• “Protecting reproductive rights and abortion access”

Key endorsements:

• Democratic Party of Orange County
• Planned Parenthood Community Action Fund
• Orange County League of Conservation Voters
• National Union of Healthcare Workers
• Southwest Carpenters union
• U.S. Rep. Katie Porter 

More voter resources:

• Website: FrancesMarquezForSupervisor.com
• Marquez’s answers to OC Register candidate questionnaire

(

Courtesy of Janet Nguyen

)

Janet Nguyen

State Senator for the 36th District (Republican)

Nguyen is seeking a return to the board she served on from 2007 to 2014. She’s calling for an overhaul of the county’s animal care agency and more audits of county spending. Many years ago, she was a key mentor to current Supervisor Andrew Do, whom she brought on as her chief of staff when she was a supervisor. But the two had a major falling out by 2016 and have been written about as political enemies.

Nguyen faced controversy for her 2011 restructuring of the board at CalOptima, the county health plan for hundreds of thousands of low-income residents. A grand jury report criticized her actions as disrupting the agency and letting its governing board be restructured by a lobbyist whose group organized a campaign fundraiser for Nguyen. At the time, her fellow Republican supervisors also harshly criticized her actions at CalOptima, including after a federal audit found serious problems. Nguyen disputed the criticisms, saying the agency’s outcomes were good.

Some platform highlights:

• “I will fight cronyism, fraud and abuse in government and increase transparency, the best defense against corrupt government”
• “As your representative, I stand with law enforcement for stronger public safety”
• “I’m a proven tax-fighter who protects Prop. 13”

Key endorsements:

• California Republican Party
• Orange County Register Editorial Board
• Lincoln Club of Orange County
• Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association PAC
• Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
• Huntington Beach City Councilmember Tony Strickland

More voter resources:

• Website: JanetForSupervisor.com
• Nguyen’s answers to OC Register candidate questionnaire

Follow the money

With fewer news outlets in Orange County, having a trusted source for local election news and resources is more important now than ever. It’s only through support from readers like you that we’re able to create this thorough and trustworthy voter guide for Orange County, providing essential voting information and watchdog reporting for your community.

We cannot do this essential work without your help. We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you. Make a gift today, to show that fact-checked, in-depth reporting matters.

Your support does so much: from investigating how taxpayer dollars are spent by the O.C. supervisors, to being the only media outlet to map the Tustin Hangar debris, to sharing great regional food and culture so all can appreciate what we have to offer.

LAist is covering all of Southern California like never before but funding journalism has never been harder. And that means many newsrooms, including LAist, are facing cutbacks. Member support – your support – is what will sustain free press in Southern California.

Thank you for your generous support.

Sincerely,

• 

  Megan Garvey

  Executive Editor

  (she/her)

Chip in now to fund your local journalism

Continue

Monthly Donation One-Time Donation

$5/mo

$10/mo

$15/mo

$20/mo

$60

$120

$180

$240

Continue

(

LAist

)