SAN DIEGO _ "Northern California." "Southern California." Just plain "California" _ but smaller.
If a tech billionaire in the Golden State has his way, California would be broken into those three new states, with Sacramento and San Francisco anchoring the one in the north, San Diego anchoring the one in the south and Los Angeles anchoring the one in the middle.
The effort to break up California is the work of Timothy Draper, who you'll remember from his failed attempt to break the state into six pieces in 2014.
Now he's at it again and has already submitted the paperwork to propose a statewide ballot measure in 2018.
The documents Draper sent to the California Attorney General's office on Aug. 18 argue that "The citizens of the whole state would be better served by three smaller state governments while preserving the historical boundaries of the various counties, cities, and towns."
As was the case with Draper's earlier effort, the odds of success are extreme. The New York Times outlined the lengthy process on Wednesday: Voters, the state legislature and the U.S. Congress would all have to approve the plan. So would the idea find any support?
People on social media are calling the idea "absurd," saying, "This will never happen," and bemoaning "the audacity to not put L.A. in with Southern California."
The measure would need 585,407 valid voter signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot.
