‘New California’ initiative would include Imperial County
A small group is re-starting an effort to split the state of California, calling it “New California,” which also includes the Imperial County.
On its Facebook page, New California State said “46 of California’s 58 counties are joining together to form the new state of New California, separate and free from the tyranny and lawlessness of California.”
It list’s one of those counties as the Imperial County, but county officials are saying they have not supported such an initiative.
“To date, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors have not taken a formal position on the formation of New California,” said county spokeswoman Linsey Dale.
Contact attempts to the group leading the initiative why the Imperial County is included were not returned as of press time Thursday.
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday the initiative was first introduced in 2016, but only gained some attention from national media like CBS and USA Today this week as it made its “declaration of independence.”
“New California is a new state in development by egregiously aggrieved Californians exercising our Constitutional right to form a new state separate from the tyranny and lawlessness of the State of California,” the groups Facebook page stated.
A map on its website includes most of the northern, eastern and southern counties in its new state, and excludes much of the coastal counties.
On its website, it lists the major reasons for the initiative stemming from years of over taxation, regulation and mono party politics.
On Tuesday, the New California Vice Chair Paul Preston told the LA Times the split is a rural vs. urban split. Preston did not return a phone call to the Imperial Valley Press on Thursday.
In order for his initiative to gain traction, state lawmakers would have to vote to split up the state, then Congress would have to approve it.
Previous failed attempts
According to USA Today, Californians have previously failed five times to split up the Golden State.
In 1941, the mayor of Port Orford, Ore., Gilbert Gable, attempted to hijack at gunpoint the counties of Del Norte, Siskiyou an Modoc to combine them with the Oregon counties of Curry, Josephine, Jackson and Klamath, but failed.
In 1965, State Sen. Richard J. Dolwig tried to separate the state at the Tehachapi mountains for water rights. He received the support from 25 out of 40 senators and his legislation passed the Senate, but not the committee.
Northern California Assemblyman Stan Statham tried to split the state in three in 1992, due to worries of a recession. His bill made it through the Senate, but died in the rules committee.
In 2011, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone attempted to remove 13 counties in Southern California. The effort was called a “supremely ridiculous waste of everybody’s time,” by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office.
In 2014, venture capitalist Tim Draper was convinced the state would operate better as smaller governments and attempted to split the state six ways.
The group gathered about 1.3 million signatures, but the secretary of state found about 40 percent of them to be illegitimate and so the initiative failed.