At Committees, 1/27/2026

Another Light Committee Week, but Potentially Critical Case Management Conference Same Day

It’s another light day for committees, Tuesday. As has been the trend since the new session began, at least one committee is cancelled for the day. And again, Public Safety is moved up to the 1:30 slot to take its place. This time, however, there’s a reasonably good rationale. The NSA’s potentially critical Case Management Conference [CMC] is also that day at 3pm. In the last Monitor’s report, there's some concerning statements about issues that aren’t yet "appropriate for public discussion".

Judge William Orrick has typically been reluctant to weigh in on internal city politics outside of the governance of the OPD, so it would be unlikely that any of the current Council and OPOA political machinations make their way into commentary at the CMC. But it would be surprising that with all the revelations of internal failures at IAB, the City is emerging from the NSA on a short timeline, but anything is possible.

There’s no big issue at Committees, but there is some legislation of public interest as well as some interesting and useful reports:

—Finance Committee

An analysis and explainer of the City’s General Obligation Bonds ratings. One issue here that Council will likely ignore given its current trajectory is that public safety costs lead the City’s budget imbalances that are taking a few points off of the City’s credit rating.

—Public Works and Transportation Committee

A contract increase for architectural services in the OFD Station 4 project. It's a near tripling of the architectural contract for design of the new OFD station at site acquired by eminent domain. The current site is potentially one of oldest buildings in Oakland and cannot be renovated. But the relocation and construction of a new station has faced several barriers: first a San Antonio community organized against placing the site in the originally preferred locale, San Antonio Park. The City has since acquired a building several blocks away through eminent domain, but it also has significant geological conditions that have to be remediated, which require the additional 2.7 MM outlay, nearly tripling the current architectural contract’s limits. Those conditions, though according to the report known to the City since 2024, but don't appear to have been revealed in the original eminent domain legislation. The new design costs could exceed $4 MM, from an original $1.5 MM estimate.

—Special Public Safety Committee

Wang’s legislation updating Oakland’s code on sex work laws would align local ordinances with state laws on sex work and human trafficking laws. Wang argues that this will shift Oakland’s efforts against human trafficking from sex workers to “johns”, but the approach is dubious given over a decade of claims made by Council members and police that this shift has already occurred, including with legislation focused on those seeking out sex work on Oakland's streets, including “Dear John” letters. The City Attorney has also waged consistent legal battles against hotels and establishments that have been alleged to be used overwhelmingly for sex work, and has succeeded in forcing several out of business—one in the current "blade" neighborhood, nearly fifteen years ago.

Wang originally tried to schedule the item to the Finance Committee, given that the alignment with state law would create a special funding source based on potential fines, but at Rules it was directed to Public Safety.