Man behind plan to split up California
likes chances in November vote
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[June 14, 2018]
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Venture capitalist
Tim Draper, fresh off an attention-grabbing victory getting a proposal
onto the November ballot to split California into three states, said on
Wednesday he was confident voters ill-served by their government would
embrace the plan.
California elections officials certified on Tuesday that Draper's
so-called Cal3 initiative had won enough signatures from registered
voters to qualify for the ballot, the first step in a politically
complicated, uphill fight to ultimately break apart the most populous
U.S. state.
"It is all about educating the voter on how much better this will be for
them. As voters become educated, they tend to support Cal3," Draper, 60,
told Reuters in an interview via email.
"Cal3 gives them an opportunity to improve the state," said Draper, who
argued California ranked near the bottom among U.S. states in quality of
life, education, the tax burden and as a place to do business. "Cal3
gives them a fresh start."
It was not clear how he determined those rankings.

A spokeswoman for the initiative said the initiative was nonpartisan and
not aligned with either major political party.
If California voters pass Cal3 in November, Democratic Governor Jerry
Brown or his successor would be directed to petition Congress to approve
the split, as called for under the U.S. Constitution.
President Donald Trump would then be required to sign that legislation.
Political experts say Congress is unlikely to approve a split-up of
California, especially Democrats who would be deeply reluctant to break
up a dependably blue state.
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Venture capitalist and CAL 3 Chairman Tim Draper speaks during a
press conference after announcing he has collected more than 600,000
signatures to put the plan to partition California into three states
into the November ballot in San Mateo, California, April 12, 2018.
REUTERS/ Stephen Lam/File Photo

But Draper believes politicians in Washington or Sacramento would be
taking an even bigger risk by ignoring the will of voters fed up
with a state government he says has long stopped working for them.
"The people we talked to are looking for better education for their
children, a better job environment, safer, cleaner water and
highways, lower taxes, and a business climate that doesn’t push
their companies out of the state," said Draper, who previously tried
unsuccessfully to qualify a ballot measure that would have broken
California into six states.
Under Cal3, California, which has almost 40 million people and an
economy that ranks as the world's fifth largest, would be split into
three still fairly large states.
One would include Los Angeles and a swath of the coast extending
north to Monterey. "Northern California" would feature Sacramento,
San Francisco and a chunk of the state extending to the Oregon
border. "Southern California" would include farm communities such as
Fresno and Bakersfield, the inland counties of San Bernardino and
Riverside, and the San Diego area.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Peter
Cooney)
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