The Santa Ana City Council adopted an ordinance prohibiting city officials from awarding government contracts to family members during its regular open meeting on Feb. 18. The council voted unanimously 7-0 to approve the ordinance.
According to the ordinance, the council drafted Section 2-112 to amend Chapter 2 of the Municipal Code, banning city officials “from awarding any agreement, contract, grant or any amendment(s) to said awards, for the purpose or receipt of any financial benefit or interest to an immediate family member.”
The section was first introduced on Feb. 4 after former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do pleaded guilty to bribery involving city contracts in October 2024. In a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Do admitted to accepting more than $550,000 in bribes at the start of 2020 to vote in favor of transferring COVID-19 bailout funds to Viet America Society, a charity organization connected to his daughter, Rhiannon Do. According to his plea agreement, Do was required to forfeit all assets and properties related to the charges.
Do currently faces a potential sentence of five years in federal prison.
“[Section 2-112 is] making sure that we have safety guards in place so people don’t abuse the system and to really minimize preferential treatment, to really safeguard the use of taxpayer dollars and curb corruption,” Councilmember Jessie Lopez said to the Voice of OC.
During the council meeting, Councilmember David Penaloza proposed a motion to revise the language of the original ordinance.
In his statement for the motion, Penaloza suggested that “the ordinance should also expand the state ethics revolving door regulations so that no employee who has left employment of the city can come back and seek a contract from the city or an agreement for at least one year from leaving that employment.”
“The regulations regarding revolving door apply to elected officials and certain high-ranking officials,” City Attorney Sonia Carvalho said, during the meeting. “[The proposed amendment] would apply to all employees.”
Councilmember Thai Viet Phan proposed further changes to the ordinance’s language, specifying that the ordinance only applies to full-time employees.
“I think that if you have a college student who only worked 15 hours a week, having them continue to work with the city or in some other capacity — but still part-time — would be beneficial to them and to the city,” Phan said.
For additional clarification, Carvalho proposed an exception for retirees receiving benefits from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). The system, the largest public pension fund in the U.S., managed benefits for over 2 million individuals in their retirement system as of the 2023-24 fiscal year.
“On occasion, the city will bring back a CalPERS retiree when there are certain findings that have to be made,” Carvalho said.
Penaloza endorsed both suggestions and agreed to amend his motion.
With the revised language introduced, the ordinance was approved in its first reading. The council will reconvene at the next meeting for a second reading.
The ordinance will take effect 30 days after the second reading.
On Chi Antony He is a News Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. He can be reached onchi@uci.edu.
Edited by Jaheem Conley
