California Supreme Court Blocks Three State Initiative

Image: ABC News

The California Supreme Court has blocked the ‘Cal 3’ initiative to split into three separate states. This prevents the measure from appearing on the November ballot, despite it receiving 600,000 signatures in all 58 counties.

The Planning and Conservation League, the group challenging the proposition, has sued to have it removed from the ballot. Their attorney, Carlyle Hall, stated that “proponents should not be able to evade the state constitution simply by qualifying a measure as one thing, when it is so clearly another.”

To explain their reasoning for siding with the opposition, the court wrote:

“Significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity and because we conclude that the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”

Tim Draper, the venture capitalist who spent more than $1.7 million in support of the initiative, complained to the court in a letter that there is not enough time to legally challenge the effort. He strongly supports Cal 3 because he feels decentralizing the state would make it easier and more efficient to govern.

Opponents argue that splitting the state up would drastically alter California’s government structure. However, it should be noted that central planning in has been an objective failure in the Golden State. It has led to them becoming the poverty capital of the United States, an enormous homeless population, and a mass exodus of top income earners.

All though it is unclear where this specific measure will end up, any attempt at decentralization should be encouraged.