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Splitting California Into Six States

Splitting California Into Six States

March 11, 2014

California, California, California, California, California, California Dreamin’! California is a large, varied state, with vast cultural and geographic differences across its many regions. We already told you about the charge for one section to split off into its own state. One man has another ideas: six states.

Splitting California Into Six StatesCalifornia venture capitalist, Tim Draper, thinks that the Golden State is ungovernable. He’s not alone. Rural residents have frequently expressed the feeling that politicians in the state capital of Sacramento serve more greatly voters in big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. Metropolitan voters, for their part, have little in common with the state’s many rural communities. Draper’s solution: end the divide…by dividing California up like a pizza. His proposal calls for six separate states. They would be:

  • South California, which would include San Diego and a large portion of Orange County
  • West California, essentially Los Angeles and Santa Barbara
  • Central California, the region stretching from Fresno to Bakersfield
  • Silicon Valley, the San Francisco Bay region
  • North California, consisting of Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, and wine country
  • Jefferson, the woodsy, mountainous region north of Eureka

This whole thing might sound crazy but Draper’s proposal has drawn lots of national attention. He’s currently in the process of trying to get the required 807,000 signatures he’ll need to get it on a ballot measure. If Draper succeeds, California voters will vote on the plan this November. If that passes, it would need approval from Congress.