Prosecutor Price

Affordable housing. January 2020. Cast what proved to be a deciding vote in a 5-4 City Council split against placing a $298 million affordable housing and homeless services bond on the November 2020 ballot. Chief proponent Rex Richardson said a yes vote would be an “endorsement to democracy” by letting voters decide. He and others pointed out that the cost to property owners for funding the bond issue would be a mere $25 per $100,000 in assessed value. Price said she couldn’t support it if the council didn’t first try to tap other funding sources.[1]

Hotel worker protection. September 2017. Cast what proved to be a deciding vote in a 5-4 City Council split opposing what the LB Post described as “an ordinance aimed at protecting the hundreds of hotel workers in Long Beach from sexual assault and being overworked,” titled the Hospitality and Workload Safety Ordinance. It was referred to as Claudia’s law, in honor of Claudia Sanchez who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell into a coma after completing a 14-hour shift at a Long Beach Downtown hotel.[2] Price objected to the language regulating the square footage a worker would be required to clean in a day.[3]

Immigrant rights. December 2018. Price voted (along with Supernaw and Mungo) against the creation of a Long Beach legal defense fund for immigrants facing deportation.[4]

Land-use element. In 2017, Price opposed key components of the Land Use Element as a threat to “the small-town feel loved by residents of the Third District.” She has continued to lead opposition on the city council to the state legislation supporting the construction of new units (ADUs) to meet the demand for affordable housing.[5]

Minimum wage. In 2016, Price led the opposition to a Long Beach minimum wage and to a plan to allocate $700,000 to community outreach supporting enforcement of the state’s minimum wage laws and public awareness on wage theft. In August she requested (and won support on a 6-2 vote) postponing council discussion of a local minimum wage.[6] In September, the Press-Telegram praised her for having “push backed on spending so much money on wage enforcement.”[7] In November of that year she joined Supernaw and Austin in proposing that the $700,000 should be reallocated to public safety priorities including “resources, staffing equipment or any other priority.”[8]

Rent Control. 2014 and 2018. Price says she is opposed to rent control. I don’t believe rent control will be beneficial . . . but I’m one voter.”[9] Previously said it even more forcefully in 2014. “I believe that the market needs to dictate rental rates . . . Rent control programs can lead to abuse and poor property maintenance.”[10]

Tenant protection. April 2019. Suzie Price was one of three council members to vote against proposed new tenant protections. The ordinance provided relocation payments of $4500 to tenants displaced by their landlords. [11] Price reiterated her opposition when the ordinance was approved on first reading in May. As approved over her objections, the ordinance limited the relocation payment to tenants who had lived in a unit for over a year and excluded tenants who had damaged the unit or were “not in good standing” for other reasons.[12]

[1] https://lbpost.com/news/city-will-study-affordable-housing-funding-after-council-votes-down-ballot-proposal

[2] https://lbpost.com/news/advocates-dismayed-as-long-beach-council-votes-down-hotel-workers-protection-ordinance

[3] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/local-hotel-ordinance-proposal-defeated

[4] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/bizbrief-todays-news-to-know-26

[5] https://lbpost.com/news/long-beach-council-members-want-city-to-oppose-housing-bills-call-on-governor-to-veto-them

[6] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/minimum-wage-discussion-postponed-until-september-6-city-council-meeting

[7] https://www.presstelegram.com/2016/09/08/long-beach-minimum-wage-change-is-smart-with-one-problem/

[8] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/city-cannot-enforce-state-minimum-wage-laws-700-000-allocated-for-this-purpose-to-be-reconsidered-at-nov-22-city-council-meeting

[9] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/city-council-requests-further-research-into-rent-control-ordinance

[10] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/mayor-councilmembers-on-record-opposing-rent-control-when-they-first-ran-for-office

[11] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/divided-city-council-votes-to-create-controversial-tenancy-regulations

[12] https://lbbusinessjournal.com/bizbrief-todays-news-to-know-76