A significant county in California is now reportedly seriously considering seceding from the state over mounting discontent with the state’s hyper-liberal trajectory.
With 2.2 million residents, San Bernardino County is the fifth-largest in the state.
The county’s voters supported an advisory ballot measure empowering local leaders to explore the possibility of seceding from the state.
Measure EE, the ballot initiative, posed the question of whether the county officials ought to conduct a thorough investigation into the possibility of leaving California..
Real estate billionaire Jeff Burum, who thought the state wasn’t doing enough to deal with the growing population, added the potential of secession to the initiative.
For the county east of Los Angeles, which has seen steep rises in cost of living, this effort to establish a new state—the first since Hawaii in 1959—is a long shot. It would depend on Congress’ and California’s legislatures’ approval, both of which are extremely doubtful.
The votes reflect the disenchantment some voters feel with a Democratic-dominated state legislature that has done nothing to address the expanding homelessness issue, skyrocketing housing costs, and rising crime rates while residents continue to pay some of the highest taxes in the nation.
The almost two dozen Northern California counties that were the target of earlier secession attempts to create a new “State of Jefferson” were mostly rural, conservative, and poorly populated.
Since the idea was approved, the county’s next move is to set up a committee, probably with representatives from both the public and private sectors, to analyze financing and compare San Bernardino to other counties.
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