Following an OC Independent report in her failure to file a 700 financial conflict of interest statement as required by state law, Santa Ana Rental Housing Board member Tracy La filed the report – known as a Form 700 – more than four months after it was due.
The twentysomething founder and leader of radical political advocacy group VietRise, was sworn in on November 7 as a member of Santa Ana’s Rental Housing Board – whose members are required by the state’s Political Reform Act to file conflict-of-interest reports – known as a Form 700 – detailing their financial interests within 30 days of assuming office. They’re subsequently required to file new Form 700s annually, at the beginning of April.
She didn’t.
The Rental Housing Board was established in as part of the draconian rent control ordinances adopted by Santa Ana’s progressive city council majority in 2021 and 2022. It hears petitions and appeals from tenants and landlords, and “promulgates and implements policies and procedures for the administration and enforcement of the Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance.” In other words, Rental Housing Board members are charged with ensuring landlords are following the new rules.
By April 16, 131 days had elapsed since the deadline for her Assuming Office Form 700 had passed. That day, a complaint was filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), which is charged with enforcing the Political Reform Act.
On April 29, OC Independent published an article about La’s failure to file and the subsequent complaint. The next day. La filed the requisite financial disclosure.
The FPPC declined to take action, saying Ms. La never received a notice to file because the Santa Anta City Clerk’s office had an incorrect e-mail for her. OC Independent confirmed this with City Clerk Jennifer Hall. She said confluent circumstances were at work. The Form 700 notices are sent out via the Netfile system, and so the City Clerk’s office didn’t get a bounce-back or “undeliverable” message like if it had ben sent via an e-mail client like Outlook.
Also, Hall said, La was the first appointee to the seven-member Rental Housing Board, and the next three were not appointed until March and April of this year. Since there were not enough members to enable the Rental Housing Board to function, it wasn’t on the radar of the Clerk’s office and so La’s failure to file went unnoticed.
According to a public records act request filed by OC Independent for any electronic communications between La and city officials between October 1, 2023 through May 6, 2024, there were none other than a few between La and the City Clerk’s office from Nov. 1 through Nov. 7.
During the same period, La’s husband Carlos Perea was appointed to the city’s Police Oversight Commission and filed his Assuming Office Form 700 on April 2, 2024. Perea runs The Harbor Institute, a radical political group that opposes enforcement of laws against illegal immigration and advocates for allowing illegal immigrants to vote. He reported no income.
