If you want to travel to California in the future, you might have to decide which one, as a ballot initiative to give all Californians the opportunity to vote to divide California into three separate states was approved by the Office of Elections of the state of California last week for inclusion on the statewide election in November of 2018.
California to Divide Into Three States?
Once approved by voters through the ballot this coming November, what is called the Cal 3 initiative would move forward to the House of Representatives of the United States and then the president of the United States for ratification.
Although no names have officially been finalized, the three states would be California, Northern California, and Southern California; whose major cities would respectively be Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.
The Cal 3 initiative gathered and submitted to the California Secretary of State office greater than double the signatures required to qualify for the ballot, representing citizens from all 58 counties of the state who support the opportunity to declare their desire for a new direction.
Stances and positions include such issues as education, immigration, taxation, energy, agriculture, public safety, cost of living, air quality, and transportation.
Summary
This initiative is not to be confused with a campaign for the state to secede from the United States to become a sovereign nation. An organization called YesCalifornia was recently granted permission by the attorney general of California to advocate for the official secession of California by collecting signatures to qualify what is known as the California Self-Determination Referendum Act for the ballot in November of 2020…
…nor is this initiative to be confused with a northern portion of the state wanting to secede from the state of California and become the state of Jefferson; and in yet another initiative, a large area comprised of 17 counties in California which calls itself New California and declared independence from the rest of the state as of Monday, January 15, 2018.
Unrelated is the possibility of the District of Columbia of becoming a state one day as well; but that is unlikely to happen anytime soon — if at all.
The state of California has been divided on a number of issues in recent years; and while the possibility of its boundaries and borders being altered might have been shrugged off years ago as a stunt of sorts, there may be an increased chance of that happening — although the processes of secession or statehood is difficult enough that it is not probable for all intents and purposes.
Whether or not any of the aforementioned initiatives will be successful, one thing is for certain: residents and citizens of California are unhappy; and the majority of them want radical change from the status quo as soon as possible.
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
