Conservation group sues to keep California in one piece
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A move to chop up California into three separate states was hit with a lawsuit Monday by a group determined to keep E pluribus with the Unum.
The California secretary of state last month verified almost a half-million signatures collected for the initiative thus qualifying it for the November ballot.
The Planning and Conservation League, which focuses on land-use planning, wants to boot the proposition clean off the ballot. The Sacramento-based nonprofit organization took its case to the State Supreme Court, arguing that such heavy-duty changes to the Golden State’s government need a thumbs-up from two-thirds of the legislature before going before the voters or a state constitutional convention.
Venture capitalist Tim Draper is bankrolling the "Cal 3" slice-and-dice initiative, maintaining that the Golden State has become too big for its governmental britches due its size, wealth disparities and geographic diversity.
This is not Mr. Draper’s first state-whittling rodeo. A few years ago, he pushed a plan that would have created six separate states, but that measure didn’t cut the mustard — or make the ballot.
The initiative would break the state into Northern California, California and Southern California, and potentially create a whole new slew of departments and agencies.
Northern California would comprise the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Sacramento and counties north of the current state capital. California would be a strip of land along the coast stretching from Los Angeles to Monterey. Southern California would include Fresno and the surrounding farming communities, reaching all the way to San Diego and the Mexican border.
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