On January 23, Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber announced that a new initiative could start circulating to collect signatures. The initiative in question? Whether California should leave the United States and become an independent country.
According to the Attorney General’s official summary of the initiative, it would require a future vote on whether California should become an independent country. The initiative would need at least 50% of California voters to respond, and if 55% vote yes, it would show “a vote of no confidence in the United States of America” and “expression of the will of the people of California.” This wouldn’t change the state’s current government or relationship with the US government but would instead signal the need to create a report to assess California’s viability to be an independent country.
Now, the proponent of the initiative, Marcus Evans, can start collecting signatures for his cause. The initiative needs 546,651 signatures to make its way to be eligible for the 2028 ballot. Evans has 180 days to collect the required number of signatures for the initiative to proceed. By 2023, California had over 22 million registered voters, and Gavin Newsom received over 6 million votes in 2022.
Hopes for California to become its own country range from passing jokes to serious campaigns. CalExit, an organization that was pro-Californian independence for nine years, recently announced that they would no longer push for an independent state. According to their website, after nearly a decade, they were able to conclude “that there is no real base of political support for this effort.” Changes to California’s statehood have also included breaking the state into small portions, including a bill that proposed the state be divided into three sections, North, Central, and South, making it all the way through the State Assembly.