LOS ANGELES, CA – The West Hollywood City Council moved forward Monday with an ordinance that would let three or more adults in a committed relationship register with the city and receive certain legal protections, according to the council’s meeting agenda.
The council took up the measure as item D.2 at its regular meeting, which began at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The item is attributed on the agenda to City Attorney Lauren Langer.
According to initial reports, the council unanimously moved the item to its consent calendar, which advanced it. The agenda had asked the council to consider introducing the ordinance on first reading.
The council’s agenda described the proposal as an ordinance adopting a new Chapter 2.86 of the Municipal Code. The chapter would define a “multi-partner domestic relationship” and create a registration process modeled after the city’s Domestic Partnership Ordinance.
It would also extend health care visitation rights and jail visitation rights to people in those relationships, along with legal protections against rent adjustments and termination of tenancy.
Ordinance would add Chapter 2.86 to the municipal code
The draft ordinance, included as Attachment A to the agenda item, contains the text of the multi-partner registration chapter and the related amendments to Chapters 17.40 and 17.52 of the Municipal Code. The agenda lists the ordinance as applying to relationships among three or more adults.
According to initial reports, registrants would need to be at least 18, all would have to agree to the registration, and each would have to share responsibility for the others’ welfare. The same reports say the people would not need to live at the same address and that the ordinance sets no cap on the number of people who can register.
Those reports also say registration would not allow three or more people to legally marry. They say it would not automatically provide health insurance, inheritance rights, federal tax benefits or other benefits of marriage.
Registration modeled on domestic partnerships
The agenda says the new process would follow the model of the city’s Domestic Partnership Ordinance, and the item describes it as a registration process run through the City Clerk. The existing program is described on the City Clerk’s domestic partnership registration page.
That page lets any two individuals register with the City Clerk. Partners must be over 18, be responsible for each other’s welfare and have no other domestic partners.
The page lists a $25 fee, and registration is done in person at City Hall or by notarized mail. The multi-partner proposal would keep the same basic structure while allowing three or more adults to register together.
Mayor John Heilman referred to the domestic partnership precedent at the council’s March 2, 2026, meeting. He said “it took several years to work out some of the issues with employee benefits.”
State law does not recognize these relationships
The staff report for item D.2 says California does not recognize multi-partner domestic relationships the way it recognizes marriage and two-person domestic partnerships. The report is part of the council’s public record for the Oct. 19 meeting.
The staff report also says the city anticipates a negligible fiscal impact from the ordinance. The registration process would be modeled on a system the City Clerk already operates.
The proposal therefore addresses local protections rather than state rights. The agenda lists the areas the city can reach: health care visitation, jail visitation, and protections tied to rent adjustments and the termination of a tenancy.
City Attorney says no added benefit costs
City Attorney Lauren Langer said in October that the ordinance would not change City employee benefits or existing benefit agreements. She also said that “No additional employee benefit costs are anticipated from adoption of the proposed ordinance.”
The statement addresses a point that Heilman raised in March, when he recalled that employee benefits had taken years to sort out under the original domestic partnership program. The agenda does not list employee benefits among the rights the new chapter would extend.
Council acted on relationship structure in March
The proposal follows an earlier council action. On March 2, 2026, the council voted 5-0 on an ordinance barring discrimination based on family or relationship structure, which appears in the Municipal Code as Chapter 9.46 and Ordinance No. 26-06.
The city’s legislative staff report for that March 2 first reading is available in the council’s records. Councilmember Chelsea Byers moved the measure and Councilmember Lauren Meister seconded it.
The same action created a task force to study a registry for multi-partner relationships. The ordinance on the Oct. 19 agenda is the registration proposal that grew out of that work.
Byers has led the effort
Byers has led the effort on the council. At the March 2 meeting, she said the protections were “frankly long overdue.”
She said, “We as a city can secure and provide stronger protections and benefits to stabilize those communities to create more security.” Her comments came as the council moved to bar discrimination and to begin studying a registry.
The Oct. 19 item is the next step in that sequence. It turns the registry idea into a specific ordinance with a defined relationship type, a City Clerk process and a set of protections.
Public comment and fee process
City staff compiled public comment correspondence on the item in a memo dated Oct. 15, ahead of the Monday meeting. The memo is part of the council’s public record for item D.2.
The agenda’s second recommendation directs the City Clerk, after the ordinance is adopted, to notice a public hearing to create a fee for the registration process. The fee would be set separately from the ordinance itself.
A fee hearing means the council would take public input on the amount before setting it. The existing domestic partnership program charges $25, according to the City Clerk’s page, but the agenda does not state a figure for the multi-partner registration.
Second reading is still required
Monday’s action was the first of two votes needed to put the ordinance into effect. Final adoption requires a second reading, and the registration fee requires its own public hearing after that.
The city had not announced dates for the second reading or the fee hearing in the information available Wednesday. Until the council adopts the ordinance, the registration process does not exist and no one can register under it.
The council’s records for the Oct. 19 meeting, including the agenda, the staff report, the draft ordinance and the public comment memo, are posted on the city’s meeting portal.
