New California strives to be 51st state

MARYSVILLE, CA (RNN) – The founders of the New California movement “declared independence” from the current state Monday in a bid to separate the rural and urban counties.

Robert Paul Preston and Tom Reed, the founders of the movement which launched in 2016, describe California in its current form as “ungovernable.”

They read their own version of a declaration of independence in Marysville, CA, Monday in a bid to eventually form their own state.

“High taxes, education, you name it, and we’re rated around 48th or 50th from a business climate and standpoint in California,” Preston told KOVR.

The solution, according to Preston and Reed, is to form a 51st state, splitting California largely along urban and coastal vs. rural and noncoastal lines.

"There's something wrong when you have a rural county such as this one, and you go down to Orange County which is mostly urban, and it has the same set of problems, and it happens because of how the state is being governed and taxed," Preston told KOVR.

The declaration of independence asks state lawmakers and US Congressional leaders to recognize the new state, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

As news of the attempt spread, Twitter users spoke out both in favor of and against the plan.

Despite previous failed attempts to divide the state – the most recent being the Six Californias intitative, which would have split the state into six regional states but failed to make it onto the 2016 ballot – the New California movement intends to continue working toward their dream.

The group is organized with committees and a council of county representatives, according to KOVR. They intend to start working on the plan with the state legislature in about 10 to 18 months.

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