I noted earlier this year that voters across California might have the chance to decide in November on a proposal to split up the Golden State into three new ones.
It’s officially on!
For the first time since before the Civil War, voters across California will decide in November on a proposal to split up the Golden State — potentially remaking it into three new states.An initiative dividing California, pushed by Silicon Valley venture capital investor Tim Draper, received enough signatures to qualify it for the November ballot, the Secretary of State’s office confirmed Tuesday afternoon.Supporters of the radical plan submitted more than 600,000 signatures, and a random sample projected that enough are valid that the measure can go before voters, setting up a campaign that is sure to attract a carnivalesque atmosphere and only-in-California chuckles from across the country.
The naysayers are already lining up.
The opposition already is forming. NoCABreakup, which is lead by former Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabien Núñez, is gearing up to battle the split-state plan.“California government can do a better job addressing the real issues facing the state, but this measure is a massive distraction that will cause political chaos and greater inequality,” tweeted Steve Maviglio, a consultant for the opposition effort. “Splitting California into three new states will triple the amount of special interests, lobbyists, politicians and bureaucracy.”
Of course, the issue also faces constitutional complexities.
[Law professor Vikram] Amar wrote that Democrats would be “very reluctant to run the risk” of supporting the proposal in Congress. “And risk aversion looms large in these matters, which helps explain why no new states have been added to the United States in over 50 years, and no new state has been created out of an existing state for more than 150 years,” he wrote.There also is a sizable debate about whether such a sweeping change can be created through a ballot initiative — that is, whether it rises to the level of a “revision” of the California Constitution, which can only be instigated by the Legislature or by a formal constitutional convention.
I have decided I just may vote for this measure. First, I suspect my new state won’t have water rationing. As an extra bonus, my Governor won’t be Gavin Newsom! That is about as much win as I can hope for this November.
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