Could California ever split into thirds?
Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper recently proposed a division of California into three regions: Northern California, Southern California, and California. The crazy part is: it could actually appear on the ballot in November.
The proposal received over 400,000 signatures, due primarily to the financial support of Draper, who invested in Hotmail, Skype, and Tesla early on, making hundreds of millions of dollars. If California voters approve the motion, it will move to California state legislature, and after that, to Congress. Hence, the approval of this bill is unlikely, but it is an interesting concept.
Draper believes that because California is the most populous state in the nation with over 39 million people, it should have more than two senators in Washington. If this bill is approved, California will triple its number of senators.
Plus, the senators of each region can better tailor policies to their specific region. Currently, two senators represent a massive state where San Francisco issues are incredibly different than Los Angeles issues.
The proposal seems to make sense from many angles, but it still has its critics. These people believe that the split will decrease the amount of Democratic electoral votes. In nearly every election, the Democratic party gets 55 electoral votes from California. The division of the state could lower this number.
The proposal will more than likely fail in November, and if not, it will fail at the state-level. However, the concept is interesting and will likely be brought up in the future. The US could see a split of the state one day.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons
Comment Template