The Los Angeles City Council took another step Tuesday toward a proposed ordinance under which companies seeking contracts with the city would have to publicly disclose if they are also submitting bids to build President Donald Trump's border wall.
On a 13-0 vote, the council directed the city attorney to draft a measure that would impose strict penalties and fines on any company that fails to disclose the information, but would not ban the company from doing business with the city.
Once the measure is drafted, it will come back before the council for a vote.
"This measure is being brought forth so that we have transparency amongst contractors," Councilman Gil Cedillo said. "We want to know if there are people who do business with the city of Los Angeles ... who wish to profit from building a wall that would divide us from our nearest and dearest neighbor, Mexico. This is something that we have a right to know."
One of Trump's top campaign promises was to build a wall stretching over the entire U.S.-Mexico border, and to make Mexico pay for it. Trump has yet to come forward with any plan on how to get Mexico to pay for the wall, nor has any budget money to build it been approved.
Trump has said the border wall is needed to cut down on drug trafficking and immigrants coming into the country illegally. Opponents like Cedillo have said a wall would promote discrimination against Mexican immigrants and represents a racist and xenophobic agenda.
The Federation of California Builders Exchanges and the Southern California Contractors Association have both expressed opposition to a state bill that seeks to blacklist contractors which bid on the wall.
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"Those individuals who abuse their elected positions to impose political judgments against businesses who are trying to lawfully operate in California will only serve to further drive companies out of the state or out of business altogether," CALBX said in a statement in April.
