L.A. City Council passes law requiring disclosure over border wall

Los Angeles lawmakers passed an ordinance Tuesday requiring companies that are seeking to do business with the city or have city contracts to reveal whether they are helping to build a wall along the Mexican border.

The City Council voted 12-0 to require those companies to disclose whether they are helping design, construct, operate or maintain “a federally funded wall, fence or other barrier along the border between the United States and Mexico.”

The vote marks the latest pushback by Los Angeles lawmakers against the policies of President Trump, who argues the barrier is needed to stop immigrants from entering the U.S. Trump last month inspected wall prototypes at the Mexican border during his visit to California.

The city’s ordinance states the wall has the “potential to divide our nation and the city of Los Angles along racial, religious and immigration status, which is the antithesis of our shared values.”

The ordinance doesn’t actually ban companies working on the wall from doing business with Los Angeles. But City Councilman Gil Cedillo, who pushed for the legislation, has described the rules as a deterrent and said he would vote against city contracts with such firms.

The construction trade group Associated General Contractors of America opposes the ordinance.

The City Council moved in August to instruct city attorneys to draft the new law, and Tuesday’s vote finalizes the ordinance. The law states that companies that signed contracts with the city on or after March 17, 2017, must disclose their involvement with the wall.

Council members Bob Blumenfield, Paul Krekorian and Nury Martinez were absent from Tuesday’s vote.

Separately, state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) introduced legislation in 2016 to prohibit California from awarding contracts to companies that are providing goods or services to build a border wall. Lara’s proposal is pending before the state Assembly.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith