Where top landmarks would fall in Three California plan

Daily Mail

California is a state blessed with a bountiful natural treasures and tourist attractions that brings in visitors from all over the world.

But if the highly contested plan to divide the state into three goes ahead, then the newly created states of Northern California, California and Southern California will have to split those money making attractions between them.  

The new Northern California would include 40 counties, including Sacramento and San Jose as well as the state’s Napa wine country, cannabis farms of Trinity and Mendocino counties, and rural northern areas.

San Francisco, which boats the Golden Gate Bridge, iconic trams and seafront, would also be part of Northern California, as would Silicon Valley, home to countless tech companies and tech billionaires including Tim Draper, the billionaire venture capitalist who came up with the state-splitting idea in the first place.

Other natural highlights include Mount Shasta, Lake Tahoe and the stunning Sierra Nevada mountain range as well as the world famous Redwood National and State Parks – home to the only tree in America you can drive a car through.

However, Northern California will only get a slice of Yosemite National Park, which attracts more than five million visitors a year. The park would instead be split, over new state lines with Southern California.

The new state would also include Death Valley – one of the hottest places in the world –  Joshua Tree and the stunning, ancient Mono Lake.

It will also retain San Diego, home to many tourist attractions such as the San Diego Zoo, and the wealthy city of Palm Springs, known for its hot springs, hotels and golf courses as well as its midcentury-modern architecture. The surrounding Coachella Valley is home to the music festival of the same name.

The jewel in Southern California’s state crown would be Disneyland, which attracts more guests than any other theme park in the world.

The new ‘California’ state, would be considerably smaller than its neighboring Northern and Southern California states.

But it would retain Los Angeles – America’s second biggest city – and with it Hollywood – the home of the billion dollar making movie industry.

It will also keep some of the most iconic California’s Spanish missions, including Santa Barbara, Santa Monica – which is packed full of historic features, Santa Ynez and San Juan Bautista.

Natural attractions include the Big Sur and Pinnacles National Park.

All three new states would have roughly the same amount of people; 12.3 million in California, 13.3 million in Northern California, and 13.9 million people in Southern California.

The plan to divide California into three separate states will be put to voters in November’s mid-term elections after securing enough signatures to be put on the ballot.

The proposal, from Draper, 59, who made his fortune as an early investor in Skype and Hotmail, has now received more than 402,468 valid signatures, passing the threshold required by state law, CNN reported.

But even if the plan is approved at the ballot box, Congress would still have the final say on whether it can go ahead.

California’s economy overtaken that of the United Kingdom to become the world’s fifth largest, according to new federal data released last month.

The Golden State’s gross domestic product rose by $127 billion from 2016 to 2017, surpassing $2.7 trillion, driven by strong productivity.

Draper has said that partitioning California would allow regional communities to make better and more sensible decisions on pressing issues such as schools, taxes and deteriorating infrastructure.

The plan for partitioning California would be parallel to other states that have been partitioned, including the Dakotas, the Carolinas, and the Virginias.

It’s not just California that would feel the effects of such a change.

Turning one state into three would create four new U.S. senators, a move that would significantly boost Californians’ influence in Washington. The number of representatives in the U.S. House could change slightly based on each state’s population breakdown. Three separate Californias would also shake up the Electoral College, which picks the president.

Although California as it exists today is heavily Democratic, one of the new Californias might not be. The newly proposed Southern California includes traditionally Republican areas such as Orange County. Democratic voters currently edge out Republicans in the 12 counties, but not by much. That could potentially boost the GOP’s West Coast representation in Congress.

Draper is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist known for investing in companies such as Skype, Tesla and Hotmail and has poured millions of dollars into efforts to break up California.

Draper argues that California has become ‘nearly ungovernable’ because of its diverse economies and population. He and backers also argue that voters outside of large urban areas such as Los Angeles are underserved in Sacramento because so many state lawmakers come from major cities.

‘Breaking the states into three smaller, more manageable states means those states will be more responsible and more responsive,’ said Peggy Grande, a Cal 3 spokeswoman.

Passing at the ballot box is just the first hurdle. That would require support from a simple majority of voters.

The measure then directs the governor to ask Congress for the ultimate OK – likely a tall order. If Congress gave a green light, it would then be up the Legislature to determine exactly how the split would happen, including how the state’s debts would be divided. Each of the three states would determine their own governance structure.

Lawmakers would only have 12 months after congressional approval to set the new rules; otherwise the state’s debts would automatically split between the three new ones.

Beyond those difficulties, lawsuits would surely follow.

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