Divide: Voters to weigh in on splitting California

If the measure passes, the existing state and the three new states would have to pay various onetime costs in the decade or so to transition from one state to three states, such as building new state capitols, according to a report prepared by California legislative analyst Mac Taylor and Director of Finance Michael Cohen in October.

Steven Maviglio, a political strategist representing opponents to the effort, projected the transactional costs at billions of dollars, and called the measure a “massive distraction” that will cause “political chaos and greater inequality”.

Although Draper said the proposal is non-partisan, some people see it as a referendum on Democratic leadership in the state. California state Senator Joel Anderson, a Republican, said he will vote for it.

“There is no greater insult to the one-party rule in California,” Anderson was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle story on June 13. “It’s a barometer of the potential unhappiness of the state.”

If the three-state proposal were approved, it would be the first division of an existing US state since the creation of West Virginia in 1863.

California, which was admitted to the Union on Sept 9, 1850, has a history of more than 200 attempts to reconfigure its boundaries or secede and become a separate country.

The proposed split reminds Bowler of Brexit (the nickname for a British exit from the European Union). “We can see — as with Brexit — how easy it is to start blaming government. It is always possible to make up stories if the facts do not fit,” he said. “And the British case of Brexit is just full of examples of supporters of secession basically making up stories that are just not true, yet believed.”

One way to generate support for the three-state proposal is to start blaming the state for all kinds of things, things that the state has done too much of or things that the state has done too little of, said Bowler.

What also concerns him is that the proposal may set a precedent that if someone doesn’t like the incumbents they can just divorce or secede.

“So everyone who did not vote for Senator Anderson could say ‘as a referendum on the senator we want to break away from his district’ and set up a separate state from him,” he said.