Two more Northern California counties may support breakaway state

[alp227]

Voters in Del Norte and Tehama counties will decide next week whether they should support a proposed move to secede from California and form a breakaway state of Jefferson.

If approved on June 3, Measure A would essentially ask the Board of Supervisors in each county to take up the matter and officially discuss supporting the secession movement, which has so far been joined by nearby Modoc, Siskiyou and Glenn counties.

The state of Jefferson -- a grouping of Northern California counties that would separate from California -- has been gaining steam since late last year, when the secession movement was revived by residents who complain of overregulation, lack of representation and a culture clash with urban areas.

Before a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the mid-1960s, each California county — with a few exceptions for the tiniest — had its own state senator. But as both legislative houses adopted a system based on population and a rural exodus accelerated, the far north was left feeling voiceless.

full: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-northern-california-counties-secession-20140528-story.html

[Politicalboi]

2. Good Luck LOL!

Since they are tired of over regulation, maybe we can make Jefferson the fracking capitol of the US.

[brooklynite]

3. Wake me up when Congress and the Constitution allow this...

[mulsh]

5. Article IV, clause 1 addresses this issue.

"New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress."

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080421130919AATHDcL

in their favor the proponents can probably meet the population requirement of 60,000. I wonder if they've given any thought to where they're going to get all the state and federal funds currently supporting local stuff like agriculture.

[treestar]

21. The California Legislature and Congress would have to agree

Interesting, in that Congress may not care much. California may be willing to let them go. How are these two counties of advantage to California? It could lose an electoral vote and a congressman to the new state.

If this is libertarian and right wingers at work, they are trying to get two new Senators and a congressman, giving them 3 electoral votes.

Liberals seem to be in cities - even in red states, their largest cities are blue.

Liberals are just not sneaky this way. Imagine trying to get Los Angeles or some other big city to say hey we have enough people and are big enough for a state - make a new liberal state.

[whistler162]

10. Key example is West Virginia

[Art_from_Ark]

26. And then there was Vermont,

which broke away from New York in 1777 (although still considered part of New York as late as 1787) and formed a separate state in 1791, and Maine, which broke away from Massachusetts to form a separate state in 1820.

[Eleanors38]

4. What? Not Texas?

[kentauros]

13. No, not Texas.

They aren't "seceding" from the U.S. as I read and understand it. They're voting to form a new state, fully in the Union. A 51st state if you will

[Eleanors38]

28. 50+ yrs. Ago there was some loud talk about the FL

Panhandle becoming a southern extension to Alabama. Guess the Pandle thought the rest of FL was getting too liberal. Nothing much came of that.

[kentauros]

31. This one appears to be more serious than that.

Not that they'll be successful, but it does seem like they'll at least try to make it happen.

[Arcanetrance]

6. Or they could just live in an airborne city called Columbia that way they're out of our hair

[vadermike]

8. LOL

LOL.. Been playing too much Bioshock Infinite, i see.. great game though... it's funny too because Columbia's leader is a far right wing nut!!

[Warren DeMontague]

12. That game fucking ROCKS.

The entire franchise is great, but... Infinite was something else.

[sakabatou]

15. It was wonderful playing it too

I just wish the ending was more concrete, but I won't say more.

[Starry Messenger]

14. They'd probably just throw their sewage over the side though.

[Eleanors38]

29. Ha! Thinking of Blade Runner.

[XemaSab]

7. There's no road between Siskiyou and Del Norte

Even though they're contiguous.

In order to get to the only seacoast/port, SoJ traffic would have to go through California or Oregon.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. Time for new toll roads!!!!11!! n/t

[Jamaal510]

20. +1

[kelliekat44]

9. I gurantee you that most of these moochers complaining about taxes and regulations

do not even pay their taxes and don't follow laws or regulations.

[spanone]

11. wait till the social security checks stop and the roads fall apart....they'll be back

[Art_from_Ark]

25. If they form a new state, the Social Security checks won't stop

since they will still be a US state, and not an independent country.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. They have voted for this in the past

They want to break away and form a state with two Oregon Counties. What do they all have in common? Very rural, and very conservative and they feel (to a point with some reason) that pols in both capitals do not give a fuck about them.

Even if Prop A passes though, it is not as simple as that.

[Lee-Lee]

17. Has anyone charted the rate of taxes paid to state spending in these counties?

I bet it is just like all the red states being takers and not givers on the National scale.

[LeftyMom]

22. Here's the info for Del Norte county:

http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/County-crunches-Jefferson-numbers

More than $34 million of the county government’s $102 million budget comes from state funding, according to the county’s report. Del Norte also receives roughly $14.13 million in federal funding, approximately $2.71 million of which is filtered through the state and pays for certain programs and grants, Sarina said. About $16.68 million is generated by local property and sales taxes, he said.

When broken down by household, Sarina said going by 2012 census information, the 9,900 households in the county generate an average of about $1,600 in tax revenue and receive $3,457 in state funding, $1,153 in federal funding and $274 in federal money passed through the state.

The Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services is the largest department not funded by the county’s general fund. About $18 million of its budget comes from state funding, said Director Gary Blatnick. The department’s total budget is about $34 million.

...

“Without that state funding we could not operate any of the programs we currently have,” Blatnick said. “A different state, or someone else, would have to administer these programs and (they) would have to find that $18 million to do it.”

When it comes to transportation, about half of the funding spent on road projects in California is generated through taxes coming from urban areas, said Tamera Leighton, executive director of the Local Transportation Commission. These urban areas are known as “self-help regions,” she said, and Del Norte is not among them.

Nearly all of Del Norte’s infrastructure funding comes from the state or federal governments, Leighton said. One of those projects, the bridge replacement and road realignment project on U.S. Highway 199, will be paid for with $19.4 million from the State Transportation Improvement Program, 54 percent of which is funded by the state and the rest by the federal government.

The proponents argument is "but logging! Blah blah spotted owls stupid liberals."

[XemaSab]

23. This leaves out the fact that the biggest employer is the California state prison

There are 7,600 people in Crescent City and there are almost 3,000 inmates at the prison.

According to the internet, there are about 825 guards there, so literally 18% of the non-incarcerated population of Crescent City works at the prison.

Without the prison, Del Norte would go the way of Klamath County, which used to be between Crescent City and Eureka.

Bestville, Cecilville, Forks of Salmon, Hoopa Valley, Johnson's, Klamath, Orleans Bar, Sawyers Bar, Sommes Bar, Trinidad, Weitchpec, and Young's Ferry are the surviving communities, and Trinidad is the only town that isn't 5 shacks and a bar.

[LeftyMom]

18. Just what we need: a state with a meth-based economy. nt

[Texasgal]

24. and people thought Texas was crazy.

[tularetom]

27. Nobody will notice when they leave except for one thing

Most of California's water resources have their point of origin in these poor, sparsely populated counties. I think what they're trying to do is convince the rest of the state that we couldn't survive without "their" water, so they can cut a deal for additional state aid.

OK in theory I guess but can you imagine how long it would take for the courts to settle the bazillion lawsuits that would arise from some sort of water grab by the Norcal cow counties?

[Raine]

30. LOL good luck on that, I think the rest of us in California have to agree and that

aint going to happen. Plus they have to be able to support themselves which is probably very unlikely. Over the years there's been all sorts of attempts for different areas of California to break into separate states but each time they've all come to nothing. It's not even possible to break off and form a separate county, it's been tried and no success with it!