Will California split in two? Legislators propose secession of 13 southern counties in first state division since Civil War

Divisions: Jeff Stone thinks the divide in California's 'political priorities' can only be solved by secession

A new proposal to reform California would break the state into two, which would be the first secession in 148 years.



The idea that 13 mostly conservative California counties should break away to create a 51st state would have to clear major hurdles to succeed.



Republican Jeff Stone suggests creating the state of South California in response to the divisions which currently paralyse Californian politics.

If successful, the plan would see a state splitting for the first time since the creation of West Virginia in 1863. West Virginia split from Virginia in order to join the anti-slavery northern states in the Civil War.

Mr Stone says that California is too big to govern, especially given the divide between Democrat- and Republican dominated parts of the state. Despite the difficulties involved in creating another state, he is keen to 'send a message' to Sacramento lawmakers.

He is now asking fellow members of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to support a motion to bring together officials from the 13 counties to discuss the idea.



'I have come to the conclusion... that the political priorities of Southern California and Northern California are completely different,' Mr Stone wrote in his motion.

New state: Most of southern California would secede under this plan - but not liberal Los Angeles

His proposal is partly a response to the budget proposals of the Democrat-controlled state legislature, whose spending Mr Stone describes as 'California gone wild'.



The effort marks the latest in scores of secession movements in California dating back to the 1850s that aimed to cleave the state and split counties and cities.

Perhaps the most serious came in 1941, when a number of counties in northern California sought to merge with counties in southern Oregon to form the state of 'Jefferson'. This proposal was abandoned when the U.S. entered the Second World War later that year.



TROUBLE WITH SECESSION

Although no state has split since 1863, secession has always remained a difficult issue for the U.S. Most notoriously, eleven southern states seceded from the Union in 1861, partly in order to avoid having to outlaw slavery. This secession led to the Civil War, and the country was not reunited until the north's victory in 1865. During the war, the north-western part of Virginia, whose inhabitants remained loyal to the Union, split from the rest of the state to form West Virginia, and no state has split or left the union since then.



Even if leaders from the 13 counties voted for secession, the U.S. Constitution says no new state can be formed without the consent of Congress and the state legislature.

A spokesman for California Governor Jerry Brown said Stone's proposal is 'a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody's time.'

'If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there's a place called Arizona,' he told the Los Angeles Times.



Mr Stone's South California would not include Los Angeles County. Instead, it would encompass coastal Orange and San Diego counties, and the more sparsely populated, inland areas of Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Mono, Riverside, San Bernardino and Tulare counties.

