12 Senators

Forbes – Secessionists in California’s rural, northernmost reaches may have found a kindred spirit in the Bay Area.

Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist, is proposing to split California into six states, according to an initiative filing received by the state Friday.

He’d let the northern counties have their state of Jefferson, while adding North California, Central California, Silicon Valley, West California and South California.

Draper did not immediately return a telephone call for comment Friday, and the website Six Californias offers little information about his idea.

The website TechCrunch quoted Draper as saying a divided state would receive improved representation in the U.S. Senate while allowing each new state to “start fresh” with government.

That may be particularly appealing to a Republican like Draper living in what is now one large, increasingly Democratic state.

Draper’s proposal comes after supervisors in Siskiyou and Modoc passed declarations this fall supporting withdrawal from California. The movement’s prospects are dim. Even if Draper could get a ballot measure passed, redrawing state lines would require one other Herculean step: an act of Congress.