A new lawsuit filed on Monday is targeting a ballot measure that would divide California into three different states. Opponents say the initiative is far too drastic of a change to state government to allow to go through the normal initiative process.
Proponents of the ballot measure argue that California has become far too large and populous to govern and want to split California into three states, Northern California, California, and Southern California.
Northern California would consist of the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Sacramento and much of the counties north of the state capital. California would be made up of a strip along the coast stretching from Los Angeles to Monterey. Southern California would run from Fresno and the surrounded farming committees reaching all the way down to San Diego and the Mexican border.
The "Cal 3" Initiative is being funded by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper in his latest attempt to divide the state. He has put up more than $1.7 million in funding to support the measure.
One lawyer working on the lawsuit against the Cal 3 initiative told the AP that the measure is an abuse of the ballot initiative system.
"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."
The Supreme Court has tossed out similar initiatives in the past after ruling they went to far in changing the structure of state government. In 1990, the court squashed part of a measure that would reform the state's criminal justice system after voters passed it because they found it went to far in changing the state's Constitution beyond what could have been done through an initiative.
Draper last attempt to split California into six states failed to gather enough signatures to make the ballot in 2016.
Photo: Cal 3