Southern California Pushes for Secession

On July 4th , many states face huge budget deficits . Some solutions come out of desperation . For California , a state with huge deficits that have gone bust over the decade . Many counties are losing money to support a massive state payouts .

A new push to divide the Golden State in two could make Southern California the 51st state. "Our state legislature that is supposed to be making laws and being respected, imposes laws that aren't even lawful," Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone told Los Angeles ABC station KABC-TV. "So I think our state is California gone wild."Stone is proposing that 13 Southern California counties secede from the state, dividing California into a north and south region ‘It has to change,’ he added..

Stone said the new state would consider having a part-time legislature, shifting more power to local government and having a reasonable sales tax.

He is now proposing to hold a public meeting to get feedback from officials and the public on the idea.‘Are there challenges?’ he said. ‘Absolutely. But the destruction of California has to stop and we don’t know what we can accomplish unless we sit down and consider the possibilities.Fellow Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster called the split-state proposal a ‘crazy distraction.’‘We should begin to get our own budget balanced, which we haven’t done yet, and put in place some of the reforms we need in this county before we try and go and restructure the government in the great state of California,’ he told the Press-Enterprise.‘The temperature has gone up in Riverside County and it seems Supervisor Stone has gotten too much sun recently,’ he added.

"I don't want to just duplicate the problems that we already have in our existing state of California," Stone told the Press-Enterprise, adding that if other counties are interested in seceding, "We would welcome them."

Many criticized Stone's plan, including Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster, who called it crazy.

"[Stone] makes a lot of good points," Fresno County Supervisor Debbie Poochigian said, according to the Press-Enterprise. "I understand his frustration, but I'm not sure dividing up the state is the answer."

Lauritzen said that over next several months Stone hopes to bring representatives from the other counties together for a symposium on his secession idea.

"We're certainly not saying it would be easy. There are lots of questions," Lauritzen said to ABC News. "But we have reached a point where this discussion just needs to take place."

Both the state legislature and Congress would have to sign off on any plan to split California in two, so even if the other counties like the idea, seceding won't be easy.

Comment from a Latino living in Los Angele us: 

I have to take a bite out of this . The Most southern part of California is mostly ( almost) Hispanic . Most Latino's are Democrat This secession jabber is nothing but a hope of Republicans to take hold of a region-turned-State which historically consists of right-leaning counties. What they are not calculating properly is that the number of Hispanic voters in the region is decidedly on the rise. And us Hispanics in California (or, should I say "The Californias") tend to lean lefty.Also, the whole "protect our borders" line is already a bit too tired. There's no stopping the influx of immigrants, legal or otherwise. (And keep in mind that for every undocumented immigrant into the State, we have 7 fully legalized newborn or immigrated residents in the the plain.)Hispanics already constitute 37% of the State's population, and the Southern portion of the State holds the majority of us. I'm not too sure a seating GOP professional really wants to shift the power balance in this region of California to the Dems, silver platter and all.Dream on, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, dream on..