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The forum will be held in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
It will take place on Monday, Sept. 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Seeking election in November are incumbents Kim Costa, Brandon Disney, Michael Froio and Kenny Parlet, and challengers Carl Porter and Christina Price.
The forum will be recorded for broadcast.
Elizabeth Larson, editor and publisher of Lake County News, will moderate the forum.
If you would like to recommend a question, email
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Senate Bill 1187, a two-year effort by Sen. McGuire to address the desperate need for tribal housing across the state, creates a tribal-specific housing program for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable homes for rent and sale.
The program will also provide technical assistance to help tribal governments navigate the complex web of regulations that often hinder tribal housing projects.
Native American communities continue to face some of the most severe housing shortages in the state.
Homelessness among Indigenous Californians is up to double that of the general population. One-third of tribal residents live below the federal poverty line, more than twice that of the rest of California’s population.
Approximately 9% of tribes in California have homes that lack complete plumbing, and 7% lack complete kitchens, according to U.S. Census data.
More than a third of Indigenous households live in overcrowded conditions, and nearly two of every five tribal member households are rent-overburdened, further exacerbating the housing affordability crisis, according to a study by the Rural Community Assistance Corp. and the California Coalition for Rural Housing.
“Housing insecurity is a public health crisis in many tribal communities. Native Americans are disproportionately represented among the state’s homeless population, which is rooted in historic racism, long-term underinvestment, and lack of funding for eligible housing,” said Pro Tem McGuire. “To truly fix this crisis, we’ve worked in close partnership with California Tribal Leaders and organizations to end this injustice by passing the Tribal Housing Act. This measure will advance desperately needed dedicated affordable housing funding that meets the unique needs of tribal communities. I appreciate Gov. Newsom’s support for this effort, and signing this critical legislation into law.”
Despite the clear need, the overwhelming majority of tribes in California have been unable to access existing state affordable housing funds.
Pre-existing funds are often too restrictive for tribes to meet the threshold and compliance requirements, and many of the requirements are mismatched compared to the needs that exist on Tribal land.
The Tribal Housing Act will address the severe housing shortage that exists on tribal lands by creating a new and separate housing program for tribal governments, taking a similar approach to the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program, which is a designated fund that exclusively serves the housing needs of farm workers across the Golden State.
McGuire represents the North Coast of California, which stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, including Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties.
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This new feature allows family and friends of people missing on public lands to more easily enter this information in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems, or NamUs, while law enforcement agencies work to improve national records of missing individuals.
The Tracking and Reporting Absent Community-Members Everywhere, or TRACE, Act also requires the DOJ to submit an annual report to Congress detailing the number of cases from the previous year involving individuals who went missing or were suspected of going missing on public lands.
“Thousands of people go missing on public lands in the United States every year, but without an effective system to track them, law enforcement’s ability to help bring them home is that much more limited,” said Sen. Padilla. “That’s why I’m glad to see the Senate unanimously pass our bipartisan TRACE Act to provide more accurate and readily accessible data, help equip law enforcement to resolve more cases, and help bring peace of mind to affected families.”
“Every year, thousands of people go missing on public lands without being recorded in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System,” said Sen. Tillis. “This oversight is impeding law enforcement from keeping track of those who go missing to help search and rescue efforts. I applaud the Senate for passing this bipartisan legislation so these cases can be added to the database and potentially save hundreds of lives in the future.”
According to a NamUs report, over 600,000 people go missing in the United States annually. While the majority of these cases are resolved, tens of thousands of people remain missing every year.
There are approximately 640 million acres of federal land which include national parks, national forests and Bureau of Land Management lands.
Estimates suggest that at least 1,600 people have gone missing on public lands, though the number is likely much higher, as isolated or rugged terrain on public lands can make it especially difficult to find or identify people who go missing.
Despite this, there is no functional system to report people who have gone missing on public lands. Having accurate data on how many people go missing on our public lands every year is crucial to aid search and rescue efforts and resolve cases.
NamUs is the main system used by law enforcement, families and friends of missing persons, medical examiners, and coroners to report unidentified remains and missing persons, and it is also used by the public.
The TRACE Act is endorsed by the American Rescue Project, Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Conservation Colorado, National District Attorneys Association, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Major City Sheriffs Association, Outdoor Industry Association, Public Land Solutions, Raven and Trust for Public Land.
Last year, Senator Padilla and Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-02) called on the DOJ to place dedicated personnel in California as part of their Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women and People Regional Outreach Program.
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The Houston V. Maricopa County ruling in the Ninth Circuit Court led to the sheriff’s office temporarily disabling its "recent arrests" and "in custody" online tools on its website at www.lakesheriff.com.
The Ninth Circuit ruled unanimously that Maricopa County, Arizona’s practice of posting photographs of arrestees — which is common across the United States — is not constitutionally permissible because it amounts to punishment.
“The state may not punish pretrial detainees without an adjudication of guilt,” said the decision, which overturned a lower court’s dismissal of the case.
The federal Houston case is now having a ripple effect across the country, including here in Lake County.
“County counsel gave us direction on making the decision to disable the current system due to the fact that we can’t share compliant information without displaying booking photos,” said Lauren Berlinn, the Lake County Sheriff’s public information officer.
For about 20 years, the Lake County Sheriff’s website has featured mugshots and detailed arrest logs.
Berlinn said the agency has launched a new tool called Citizen RIMS to display recent arrests and in custody information that remains under compliance with all regulations resulting from the court decision.
On Tuesday morning, the in-custody information was once more live at https://www.lakecountyca.gov/953/In-Custody. At that point the arrests page was still disabled. However, by Wednesday it was reestablished with the Citizen RIMS format.
The Citizen RIMS tool includes full names, ages, genders, race, height and weight, hair and eye color, build, complexion, booking numbers and booking dates. It includes the arresting agency, date, location and bail, and the counts for which they were arrested.
Information that is no longer offered includes birthdates, birth place and current city of residence, arresting officer and the arrestee’s next date in court.
Most notably, the website now does not show mugshots.
Also missing are the two decades of previous arrest information that could be accessed through the Lake County Sheriff’s website.
Similarly, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office took down the mugshots on its website.
“Due to a recent ruling of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of Houston V. Maricopa, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is not posting photographs of arrestees on the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office booking log website,” the agency said on its website.
The federal case that triggered the change
The case that yielded the Sept. 5 Ninth Circuit Court decision that led to removing mugshots, Houston V. Maricopa County, involves Brian Houston, who was arrested and charged with assault by Phoenix Police officers in January 2022.
The circuit judges who heard the case are Marsha S. Berzon, Andrew D. Hurwitz and Anthony D. Johnstone. The three judges were appointed by presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, respectively.
Case documents explain that, during the Maricopa County jail booking process, Houston’s photo was taken and posted, alongside many others, on the County’s publicly accessible “Mugshot Lookup” website.
“Next to the mugshot photo were Houston’s full name, birthdate, and an entry under ‘Crime Type’ describing the category of his alleged offense. Pushing a ‘More Details’ button would have revealed Houston’s sex, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and the specific charges on which he was arrested,” the court’s decision explained.
That information remained online for approximately three days pursuant to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s regular practice. The court noted that Houston was never prosecuted on the charges noted on the post, which were later dropped.
“To justify its mugshot posting practice, the County asserts that its posts promote transparency in the criminal legal system. But the ‘Mugshot Lookup’ page did not contain the names of the arresting officers, the division of the County police department responsible for the arrest, whether charges were pursued or dismissed, or the jail in which Houston was held. The ‘Mugshot Lookup’ posts thus shed light only on arrestees, not on the operations of the Sheriff’s Office or County law enforcement,” the court document explains.
In May of 2022, Houston filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County and Sheriff Paul Penzone seeking declaratory relief, injunctive relief, monetary damages and punitive damages.
Houston alleged that the online booking sheets violated Arizona’s Public Records Law, the Arizona Constitution’s right to privacy, Arizona law on intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, the Arizona Mugshot Act, due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and the Arizona Constitution, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Sixth Amendment.
He also said the mugshot posting had caused him emotional distress and public humiliation, permanently damaged his business and personal reputation, and placed him at risk of identity theft, fraud and extortion.
Part of the damage came from a third-party website scraping his mugshot and personal information for posting. Houston alleged that Maricopa County was aware of that practice.
Maricopa County moved to dismiss the operative complaint, which a district court granted. However, Houston appealed, which led to the case eventually making it to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The court found that Maricopa County’s “nonpunitive reason” for posting Houston’s mugshot — transparency — was not a “talisman” for them.
“Arguments about transparency—quite a vague concept—require context. We cannot credit a transparency justification without evaluating what information is at issue, to whom such information is being revealed, and the purpose such disclosure serves. After conducting such an examination, we conclude that a mere assertion of a transparency interest does not establish a ‘legitimate governmental objective’ requiring dismissal of Houston’s complaint,” the decision explained.
Ultimately, the court found, “Houston plausibly pleaded a substantive due process claim against the County based on pretrial punishment,” and they reversed the district court’s dismissal.
The court also noted in its conclusion that the posting of mugshots as was Maricopa County’s practice resulted in “public exposure and humiliation of pretrial detainees, who are presumed innocent and may not be punished before an adjudication of guilt.”
Maricopa County’s website now says “unavailable” under the mugshot lookup page.
Email Elizabeth Larson at