Tenure
In April 2021, Raman proposed amendments to a draft ordinance on tenant harassment. The amendments classified cash buyout offers and threats to report false information to law enforcement as forms of harassment, and included a rent adjustment penalty, which would prevent landlords who violate the ordinance from raising a unit's rent. The ordinance was passed in June 2021.
In June 2021, Raman was served with a recall notice after only six months in office. The Los Angeles Times referred to the notice as part of a "recall fever" striking California, as at least 68 other active recalls were then ongoing in the state, including the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom. In September 2021 the recall campaign collapsed when proponents announced that they were unable to collect the required number of signatures within the allotted time.
On February 1, 2022, Raman was appointed to the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District by Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti. She replaced councilmember Joe Buscaino. She pledged to prioritize public health and environmental justice from that position. Shortly after she declared her candidacy for mayor in February 2026, it was revealed that Mayor Bass had removed Raman from the board a month prior. Environmental activists speculated that Bass might have been displeased with Raman's push for a "more aggressive" approach to enforcing environmental regulations.
In 2021 and 2022, Raman was one of three councilmembers to vote against L.A.M.C. Section 41.18, a city ordinance that banned homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers. 41.18 was adopted by the City Council by a vote of 11–3, over the objections of activists who protested the measure in the Council chamber. In remarks in a City Council meeting, Raman argued that the measure "creates a district by district arms-race, where people will get pushed around from district to district instead of having a citywide strategy that prioritizes intervention in encampments by need, by safety, by fire risk, by all of the things that we are claiming to be so concerned about. In the end, this will just push people around again. It's not going to solve homelessness or get anybody into housing."
A leaked recording between Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, as well as Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera revealed the group's plan to use redistricting to oust Raman. Speaking of Raman, Cedillo stated that "There's certain people who don't merit us rescuing them...She's not our ally, she's not going to help us" and de León proposed to put her district "in a blender, chop it up left or right." The group planned to split the Koreatown neighborhood, a voting bloc for Raman, so that minority voters in her renters' district would be divided and she would face a tougher reelection. After the conversation was leaked, Raman introduced a measure to ask voters to change the city charter so that redistricting would be handled by an independent commission.
In June 2023, during a protest led by UNITE HERE Local 11 to support local hotel workers, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Raman after she refused to disperse.
She was the Council's assistant president pro tempore, succeeding Bob Blumenfield, from January 28, 2025, to April 14, 2026, when then-Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson replaced her with Councilmember John Lee.
In November 2025, city council passed a motion authored by Raman that capped maximum annual rent increase for rent-stabilized apartments, which house nearly half of the city's residents, at 4%. This change was the first time the city's rent stabilization ordinance had been strengthened in 40 years.
