Phil Matier: Plan To Separate California Into 6 States May Be On Hold Until 2016
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— A plan to split California into six separate states may have to wait until 2016 to go to voters with the deadline for the November ballot soon approaching.
Meanwhile, the Silicon Valley capitalist behind the proposal said he doesn't know if he'll have enough signatures to qualify for this year.
It's not really a new idea. After all, aren't we in the midst of secession now? The proposal for Jefferson State (a proposed would-be 51st state) has been going on forever in Northern California and would include parts of Southern Oregon. Some of the county board of supervisors even voted to secede.
Phil Matier: Plan To Separate California Into 6 States May Be On Hold Until 2016
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said in the early 70s, he had put together a program to divide California into two states. Brown joked he was thinking in terms of job expansion (for himself) since you could have four California senators and two governors (jobs he was considering at the time).
"It's a serious thing as a matter of fact. California is a very huge state. There are 38 million people currently in California," Brown said. "The diversity of the population is so dramatic and the problems are so much greater than almost any other single state in the union. We deserve the opportunity for a greater share for federal power and federal resources."
In Brown's estimation, that could only be attained through some sort of division of the population. Brown argued other territories like the Dakotas were able to split from one another in order to gain more power and resources and said it was unfair that such a populous state as California should have the same amount of senators as less populated states.
Brown thinks the Bay Area and the Central Valley should be included in the same state.
