For the second time in less than a year, the CalExit effort in California will gather signatures for the right to secede from the United States.
According to the Sacramento Bee, California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra granted the remaining CalExit group the right to gather signatures to put a referendum on the ballot:
The state attorney general issued an official ballot measure title and summary Tuesday. The campaign can now start gathering the more than 585,000 signatures it will need to qualify for the 2018 ballot.
The initiative would form a commission to recommend avenues for California to pursue its independence and delete part of the state constitution that says it is an inseparable part of the U.S. The measure would also instruct the governor and California congressional delegation to negotiate more autonomy for the state.
This will be the second attempt to put a secession measure on the 2018 ballot. The first attempt failed, and was subsequently withdrawn from consideration in April.
The original initiative was clouded by rumors of Russian involvement and irreconcilable differences among leadership.
This latest initiative, which will be titled “California Autonomy From Federal Government,” according to Becerra’s press release, must gather 585,000 valid signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that CalExit II, as it’s come to be known, has been modified substantially from the original CalExit effort:
The proposal, scaled back from an initially more aggressive version, would direct California’s governor to negotiate more autonomy from the federal government, including potentially putting forward a ballot measure to declare independence.
The initiative wouldn’t necessarily result in California exiting the country, but could allow the state to be a “fully functioning sovereign and autonomous nation” within the U.S.
The fiscal impact study conducted by the state of California, according to the Times, says it would cost more than $1.25 million per year for an advisory commission to assist the governor on California’s independence, plus “unknown, potentially major, fiscal effects if California voters approved changes to the state’s relationship with the United States at a future election after the approval of this measure.”
Tim Donnelly is a former California State Assemblyman and Author, currently on a book tour for his new book: Patriot Not Politician: Win or Go Homeless. He also ran for governor in 2014.
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