A history of California Secession

Californians have proposed new governments since the early 1940s. Here is a brief history of several major proposals.

The State of Jefferson Originates (1941)

Jefferson would be a state comprised of Oregon’s southern and California’s northern counties. The original Jefferson proposal was put forth in Oregon by the mayor of Port Orford, Gilbert Gable. The idea didn’t exactly take off, although protests gained national attention from media outlets.

Reynolds v. Sims (1964)

Reynolds v. Sims is a Supreme Court decision that set the “one person, one vote” standard by giving more representation to highly populated areas of states. The decision lowered representation in rural areas. This has been a hot button issue in California as it gave a great deal of political power to San Francisco and Los Angeles, what some consider turned California into a “two-city state.”

Jefferson Reemerges (1991)

Another state split proposal occurred in the early ‘90s when State Assemblyman Stan Statham asked the 31 northern most counties if the state should separate. When all but Humboldt responded positively the bill was introduced but did not make it to the ballot.

The Current State of Jefferson (2013)

Jefferson’s resurgence had gained traction with recent upheaval regarding representation and California’s drought.

According to the Spokesperson for the Jefferson Declaration Committee, Mark Baird, the goal behind Jefferson was less about issues or political parties and more about rural voters getting the same chance in the legislature as urban votes.

“It isn’t about a particular issue, it is about representation,” Baird said.

The committee plans to sue the State of California for lack of county representation in January 2017. If they win, they plan to push the State of Jefferson further and hope to reverse the Reynolds v. Sims decision.

Six Californias (2013)

Businessman Tim Draper proposed a measure that would split California into six separate states came to be. The states would include: Jefferson, Northern California, Central California, South California, West California and Silicon Valley. The measure did not receive enough signatures to be put to a vote.

Calexit (2016)

As the votes were counted the night of Nov. 8, Donald Trump became the president elect. This news quickly created the movement known as CalExit. The hashtag was started by Silicon Valley-based C.E.O. Lucas Peng. The movement calls for California to secede from the United States. This idea is based on California being the sixth largest economy.

According to Peng, the movement is a response to discrimination in the United States and the feeling that we are moving away from racial progress.

“We do need to speak out and CalExit has been gaining attention from groups who have been discriminated against,” Peng said.

This plan is more ambitious than The State of Jefferson in that it calls for complete secession from the union.

CalExit gained support of California independence organization YesCalifornia and will be voted on in 2019.