A Riverside County supervisor will be asking leaders in 13 counties to discuss seceding from California.
The proposal, by Supervisor Jeff Stone, is for Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Kings, Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono counties to form a 51st state, the State of South California.
The impetus for this proposal is SB 89, which diverts vehicle license fee revenue to fund public safety. SB 89 would dramatically affect the budgets of a number of newly-incorporated cities. But Stone has other discussion points as well, including California’s high taxes, regulations controlling greenhouse gases, spending on public assistance, tuition for illegal immigrants, and the California’s low educational test scores.
We assume that representatives of some of those other 13 counties will sit Mr. Stone down with a Water Plan map and show him where most of their water comes from. But maybe he has a plan for regional water self-sufficiency in the 51st state.