Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Will You Get To Vote on 3 Californias? Maybe Not.
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 7 years ago on
July 10, 2018

Share

SACRAMENTO — Opponents of an initiative to split California into three states asked the state Supreme Court to pull the measure from the ballot, arguing it’s too drastic a change to state government to go through the normal initiative process.
A lawsuit filed Monday by the Planning and Conservation League argues major changes to the state’s government structure require approval from two-thirds of the Legislature before going under consideration by voters or a state constitutional convention.

“It would not surprise me if the court took this off the ballot.” — UC Hastings law professor Michael Salerno
The initiative would break the state into Northern California, California and Southern California.
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.

State’s High Court Has Derailed Other Initiatives

The California Supreme Court has tossed initiatives in the past after ruling they went too far in changing government structure.
For example, in 1990 the court got rid of part of a measure to reform the state’s criminal justice system after voters passed it because the court found it revised the state Constitution beyond what could be done through an initiative.
In another case in 2000, the court struck a measure on lawmaker compensation and redistricting from the ballot before it went to voters because the justices found it violated the state’s single-subject rule, which requires that initiatives deal with just one issue.
Venture capitalist Tim Draper is financing the “Cal 3” initiative in his latest attempt to divide the state. He has spent more than $1.7 million supporting it. The nation’s most populous state has become too difficult to govern because of its size, wealth disparities and geographic diversity, Draper and the initiative’s supporters argue.

No Comment From Draper

Draper did not comment on the lawsuit because he had not seen it. A spokeswoman for the initiative also did not comment.
Draper’s measure is an abuse of the ballot initiative system, said Carlyle Hall, a lawyer working on the lawsuit.
“The dislocation and the disruption that would be caused by something as great as this just can’t be understated,” he said. “This will not make things better.”

Law Professors React

Michael Salerno, a law professor at UC Hastings, described the change that the initiative is trying to make as profound.
“It would not surprise me if the court took this off the ballot,” he said.
Loyola law professor Jessica Levinson said it makes sense for opponents to argue that the initiative substantially revises the state’s governing structure, but she added that judges are often reluctant to pull measures from the ballot.
The initiative could harm the environment if California’s strong environmental protections are scrapped and replaced with something weaker, which could happen if the state were split, Hall said.
Draper’s last attempt to divide the state in six didn’t gather enough signatures to make the ballot in 2016.
Although California, as it exists today, is heavily Democratic, the newly proposed Southern California might not be. Democrats have only a slim registration advantage over Republicans in that region.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Canada’s Liberals Celebrate a Stunning Win and the Populist Challenger Loses His Seat

DON'T MISS

White House Denounces Amazon for Plan to Disclose Cost of US Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Pre-Tariffs Stockpiling Boosts US Goods Trade Deficit to Record High

DON'T MISS

US Job Openings Fall in March; Layoffs Decline

DON'T MISS

Trump’s First 100 Days: America First President Is Overturning World Order

DON'T MISS

California Senator Will Make Historic Appearance at Fresno City College Commencement

DON'T MISS

Gaza Ceasefire Talks in Cairo Near ‘Significant Breakthrough,’ Two Security Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Farmer Sentenced to Prison in $650,000 Crop Insurance Fraud Case

DON'T MISS

Where Were the Most Car Crashes in Clovis? Police Release List

DON'T MISS

Protesters to Rally in Brooklyn After Pro-Israel Crowd Assaults Woman

UP NEXT

Autopsy Confirms Gene Hackman Died From Heart Disease

UP NEXT

California Faces Automaker Backlash Over 2035 Gas Car Ban

UP NEXT

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

UP NEXT

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

UP NEXT

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

UP NEXT

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

UP NEXT

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

UP NEXT

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

UP NEXT

Eovaldi Outlasts Verlander as Rangers Beat Giants

UP NEXT

Rams Take Oregon Tight End Terrance Ferguson in Second Round After Trading Out of First

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

US Job Openings Fall in March; Layoffs Decline

10 minutes ago

Trump’s First 100 Days: America First President Is Overturning World Order

11 minutes ago

California Senator Will Make Historic Appearance at Fresno City College Commencement

16 hours ago

Gaza Ceasefire Talks in Cairo Near ‘Significant Breakthrough,’ Two Security Sources Say

16 hours ago

Fresno County Farmer Sentenced to Prison in $650,000 Crop Insurance Fraud Case

16 hours ago

Where Were the Most Car Crashes in Clovis? Police Release List

16 hours ago

Protesters to Rally in Brooklyn After Pro-Israel Crowd Assaults Woman

16 hours ago

Selma Teen’s Death May Be Tied to Fentanyl, Police Say

17 hours ago

Blast Kills at Least 26 People in Nigeria’s Northeast, Residents Say

17 hours ago

5-Year-Old Girl and Parents Among Those Dead in Vehicle Ramming in Vancouver

17 hours ago

Canada’s Liberals Celebrate a Stunning Win and the Populist Challenger Loses His Seat

TORONTO — As Canada’s Liberals celebrated election victory in a stunning turn of fortune, the country would not know until later Tuesday whe...

2 minutes ago

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives on stage at his campaign headquarters after the Liberal Party won the Canadian election in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
2 minutes ago

Canada’s Liberals Celebrate a Stunning Win and the Populist Challenger Loses His Seat

6 minutes ago

White House Denounces Amazon for Plan to Disclose Cost of US Tariffs

An Italian container ship is seen at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, United States September 15, 2015. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
7 minutes ago

Pre-Tariffs Stockpiling Boosts US Goods Trade Deficit to Record High

A sign advertising job openings is seen outside of a Starbucks in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., May 26, 2021. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File photo)
10 minutes ago

US Job Openings Fall in March; Layoffs Decline

President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 28, 2025. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo/File Photo)
11 minutes ago

Trump’s First 100 Days: America First President Is Overturning World Order

16 hours ago

California Senator Will Make Historic Appearance at Fresno City College Commencement

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip April 28, 2025. (REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)
16 hours ago

Gaza Ceasefire Talks in Cairo Near ‘Significant Breakthrough,’ Two Security Sources Say

16 hours ago

Fresno County Farmer Sentenced to Prison in $650,000 Crop Insurance Fraud Case

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend