Plan to split California into six states gains ground
Los Angeles (United States) (AFP)
– A plan to divide California into six separate US states is closer to
making it on to a November ballot, with organizers gaining approval to
collect signatures.
The seemingly far-fetched
initiative, sponsored by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper,
claims “political representation of California’s diverse population and
economies has rendered the state nearly ungovernable.”
And on Tuesday, the California
Secretary of State’s office gave the movement a boost, saying that
proponents “may begin collecting petition signatures.”
At least 807,615 voters — representing eight percent of the total
ballots cast for governor in the 2010 election — will need to sign the
petition by July 18 to make it on to the ballot.
The proposal aims to split the
state — America’s most populous with around 38 million inhabitants —
into “six smaller state governments, while preserving the historical
boundaries of the various counties, cities and towns.”
In 2012, California was tied with
Russia and Italy — all with a GDP of approximately $2.0 trillion — for
eighth place in world GDP rankings, according to the Center for
Continuing Study of the California Economy.
The proposal would create a state
out of Silicon Valley, home to tech giants Google, Facebook and Apple.
It would also create South California, which would include Hollywood and
the US entertainment industry.
West California, Central
California, North California, and Jefferson in the most northern part of
the state, would also go it alone.
According to the proposal, voters
overwhelming approved dividing California in two in 1859, but Congress
did not act due to the Civil War.
Draper, who has funded more than
400 companies including Skype and Baidu, is founder of venture capital
firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson in Menlo Park, California.
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