Billionaire VC Timothy Draper has gotten his longstanding proposal to break California up into six smaller states onto the 2016 ballot, where Californians will have the ability to vote on it.
Draper says a balkanized California will be more responsive and better governed. The existing state of California encompasses several very different kinds of economies, from Hollywood to Silicon Valley to the agrarian Central Valley. Even if California voters approve the proposal, it is unlikely the Congress would go along with the plan.
Draper’s plan would split the world’s eighth-largest economy along geographic lines.
One state, to be called Silicon Valley, would include the tech hub along with the San Francisco Bay Area. Jefferson, named after the third U.S. president, would encompass the northernmost region. The state capital of Sacramento would be in North California, while South California would be made up of San Diego and the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles.
L.A. itself would be part of a state called West California.
Billionaire’s breakup plan would chop California into six states [Jennifer Chaussee/Reuters]