Petition to Separate from California
STATE OF JEFFERSON
WHITE PAPER
Wednesday Jan 13 at
5:00 pm PST , call-in (347) 826-7353
Since 1965, northern California has not had adequate
representation in the state legislature. The most expeditious way to restore
representation to the counties of northern California is to create a new state
with those counties that want representation restored. The only viable plan to
restore representation is the “Jefferson” state movement which is using the
only legal method of engineering a state split through the formula required by
Article IV, Section 3 of the US Constitution.i This formula necessitates a
simple majority of both houses of the state legislature and Congress approve
the split in order to create a state out of an existing state or states. This
process has created four new states in our nation's history.
In order for “Jefferson” to be successful, two tenets must
be completed and one verified. First, counties that want to be part of the new
state must give the Jefferson Committee some indication of support. Typically
this is done by the Board of Supervisors affirming a Declaration and Petition
to Withdraw from the State of California. This is not the only avenue open to a
County. Second, the state and national legislative actions outlined above must
achieve a simple majority result.
Third, although not required by Article IV, Section 3, the
Committees will illustrate the financial viability of the new State to its
citizens.
As of January 1, 2015, six counties have Declared and
Petitioned to Separate from California and join the new state of “Jefferson”.
Both the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) and an internally
generated financial model have shown that “Jefferson” is a viable entity. By
the end of January 2015, four counties will have had their Declarations filed
with the Secretary of State of California which could initiate the legislative
phase of state separation. The legislative action will be delayed long enough
to determine if additional counties would like to join the new state.
There are 14 additional counties that have active committees
educating the public and reaching their supervisors with the message of
republican based representation which is guaranteed in Article IV, Section 4 of
the US Constitution.ii
Issue
A basket of Supreme Court opinions, finalized by Reynolds v.
Sims diluted the representation in rural counties in thirty states in 1964.iii
Up until that decision, California, and many other states, had roughly one
state senator for each county. This was consistent with the Connecticut
Compromise as implemented in Article I, Sections 2 and 3 of the US Constitution
where the House of Representatives is determined by population and the Senate
is comprised of two individuals from each state ensuring small or less populous
states have an equal footing in Congress.iv The Warren Court in 1964
invalidated this form of government for thirty states by manufacturing the
doctrine of “one man, one vote” from the 14th Amendment which used population
as the sole arbiter of representation in both houses of the state legislature.
The California state senate became a mirrored representation
structure of the assembly. Based on population, roughly three senators and
assemblymen total come from the twenty northern most counties of California
while 35 of 120 legislators come from Los Angeles County alone as shown in
Exhibit 2. As go the large population centers, so goes the entire state. For
nearly fifty years, adequate representation has not existed for the counties of
northern California. Rural counties are taxed but have no representation to
determine how tax monies are spent.
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