Either way it's the first of what could be a volley across the political bows of politicians across America.
Plan to divide California into 6 states gets closer to vote
A prominent Silicon Valley investor’s proposal to split California into six separate states has moved one step closer to getting on a ballot for vote.
The state has given venture capitalist Tim Draper the green light to begin collecting signatures for a petition to break apart the state. Draper, who describes California as too big to manage and essentially ungovernable, now has until July 18 to collect 807,615 signatures for a ballot initiative that could reach voters by November 2016.
Draper, whose bets on Skype and Hotmail have made him a billionaire, says “vast parts of our state are poorly served by a representative government,” according to his initiative.
“It is more and more difficult for Sacramento to keep up with the social issues from the various regions of California,” Draper told ABC News. “With six Californias, people will be closer to their state governments, and states can get a refresh.”
His proposal calls for one of the states to be called Silicon Valley, which would include San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties, as well as San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
The other states he’s proposing are Northern California, Southern California, Central California, Western California and Jefferson.
Proposals have surfaced over the years over whether the state should be split up.
“It’s certainly fun to talk about,” Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, told the Associated Press. However,“its prospects are nil.”
Even if the measure passes, Congress, under the U.S. Constitution, would have final say on six states. Six individual states would give California 12 Senate seats.
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