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Petition to split California into six states gets green light

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G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Link. Searched and didn't see a thread. Vote down if old.

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A venture capitalist who feels colossal California is too unwieldy to govern is proposing to split it into six separate states, and Secretary of State Debra Bowen has given him the green light to start collecting petition signatures.

Tim Draper filed a ballot initiative in December stating that because of recent social and economic changes California has become “nearly ungovernable.”

He proposed dividing California into six states. San Diego and Orange County would make up “South California.” “West California” would include Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, while Bakersfield, Fresno and Stockton would make up the larger “Central California.” San Francisco and San Jose would be in the new “Silicon Valley.” “North California” would include the Sacramento area, and “Jefferson” would be home to the Redding and Eureka areas.

“California as it is is ungovernable,” Draper told ABC News today. “It is more and more difficult for Sacramento to keep up with the social issues from the various regions of California. With six Californias, people will be closer to their state governments, and states can get a refresh”.

Brendan Nyhan, Assistant Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, isn’t sold on the idea. “Splitting California into six states would raise all sorts of concerns about the partisan balance of the senate. I can’t imagine this would ever go anywhere” said Nyhan.

Nyhan says a plan like this would surface many issues. Things like water policy, agricultural policy, and even the electoral college would all change if this plan were to take action.

The plan aims to settle California’s financial issues after the separation of the states. If things can’t be resolved, each state would receive a portion of the state’s debts based on the newly created state’s population.

If the federal government approves creating six new states, “all tax collections and spending by the existing State of California would end, with its assets and liabilities divided among the new states,” Secretary of State Debra Bowen said in a statement on Tuesday.

That would leave decisions regarding taxes and public spending of the new states up to its elected leaders.

If California were its own separate country, it would have the eighth-largest economy in the world.

In order to make this plan a reality, Draper needs to start collecting signatures in order to qualify the petition for a ballot. He needs the signatures of 807,615 registered voters in 150 days, making his deadline July 18, 2014.

“We are going to put together a grass roots effort to get signatures,” Draper said. “It looks very promising since there are already several movements to create new states here”.
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T

Trail Guide

Member
I don't see how this could even come close to happening on a national scale. No way adding five new states get's passed in the senate.
 
D

Dead Man

Member
Why would anyone invest money in supporting this? Invest in promoting the idea if you are keen, but it is not going to be approved nationally. And Central Cali looks like it will be the worst place in the country to live.

Anura said:
Other issues aside, why do they need 6 states? Wouldn't 2 or 3 suffice for their cause?
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They want to cut off all the poors from their area.
 
K

Kinvara

Member
It's kind of amusing to see California split up like that.

It's like a map from an alternate universe.

Also, it seems like every time I see an article involving a "venture capitalist" there's always a dumb idea to go with it.
 
D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
West California = Best California

Actually naming a region Silicon Valley is pretty funny.

Yeah, this has no chance of ever going anywhere for countless reasons, but this guy is free to spend some money trying to collect signatures.

If California were its own separate country, it would have the eighth-largest economy in the world.
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Good luck splitting that up.

MC Safety said:
There's someone whose job it is to approve or disapprove of petitions?

I want that job.
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Ballot initiatives have to be approved by someone, even at the earliest at the point.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
San Francisco and San Jose would be in the new “Silicon Valley.” “North California” would include the Sacramento area
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Combine Silicon Valley and North California into one state and it would be the best state in the country:SF, Silicon Valley, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Monterey bay, Napa valley, Marin county, Sacto, Lake Tahoe...
 
Fury Sense

Fury Sense

Member
Let's be honest: the point of this bill is for the Bay Are to secede from California to form a sort of Hong Kong 2.0 where the tech community will control both the private and public sectors.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Anura said:
Other issues aside, why do they need 6 states? Wouldn't 2 or 3 suffice for their cause?
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ThoseDeafMutes said:
What's the thinking behind having six, specifically, as opposed to two or three?
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I don't think he has ever said why the number six. These were his reasons (taken from this previous thread):

In an email, Draper tells me there are five key reasons he’s pushing the initiative:

1. It is about time California was properly represented with Senators in Washington. Now our number of Senators per person will be about average.
2. Competition is good, monopolies are bad. This initiative encourages more competition and less monopolistic power. Like all competitive systems, costs will be lower and service will be better.
3. Each new state can start fresh. From a new crowd sourced state flower to a more relevant constitution.
4. Decisions can be more relevant to the population. The regulations in one new state are not appropriate for another.
5. Individuals can move between states more freely.”
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P

potam

Banned
They really want to call a fucking state Silicon Valley? Aside from the blatant Senate seat grab that this is, I oppose it solely for that stupid fucking name. A trendy buzzword nick name has no place as an official state's name.

ib4 everyone tells me that every other state's name originated as a nickname
 
C

Chumly

Member
Nyhan says a plan like this would surface many issues. Things like water policy, agricultural policy,
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That right there would probably be the biggest train wreck. Water policy in particular.
 
L

lastplayed

Member
potam said:
They really want to call a fucking state Silicon Valley? Aside from the blatant Senate seat grab that this is, I oppose it solely for that stupid fucking name. A trendy buzzword nick name has no place as an official state's name.

ib4 everyone tells me that every other state's name originated as a nickname
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Well it's gotta be better than naming a state after Queen Elizabeth's sexual status.
 
GraveRobberX

GraveRobberX

Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
6? Really?

That's overkill no?

Just do 2 or Hell 3, be it North/South Cali or North/South/Central Cali

So this would what roughly 10 extra new senate members and gerrymandering out the ass for both sides to sneak in a few congressman of theirs into the House side

Not gonna happen, shit looks crazy as fuck

Chichikov said:
http://img.slate.com/media/72/flag.swf

Fuck, no valid pattern for 69 states?
The dream is dead.
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Nor 87 =/

So we can't get to 69 or 87, it will be the downfall of us all!

__________________________

I wonder if we can break up New York into different States, Fuck Texas would have like 8-10 states with in it

Lets get too 100 States and a Flag to represent it!
 
D

Devolution

Member
Water rights, food grown in the CV and power centralized in Sacramento means as much as a big state is a problem it's not going to break up.
 
D

Dead Man

Member
Notrollious said:
Another shade of the bullshit free market explanation that people try to use for everything.

"Don't like the state!?!?!??!?! Potentially uproot your life and move to another one!"
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They also conveniently don't mention that if they are unhappy with the level of senate representation they could also move to another state. Or that senate representation was done by state rather than population for a reason.
 
M

MindCollizion

Member
"Dude, I was born in West Cali, moved to Nor Cal for school, and have to commute to Silicon Valley every day for work. It's hella crazy just driving through Central Cal, there isn't anything there, just to go to So Cal for tacos. Well, at least there's no need to ever go to Jefferson any more."
 
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