In November, Californians will possibly vote on an initiative to divide the state into three. But, Melia Robinson explains for Business Insider, “It would be incredibly difficult for California to split into three states.”
The article states that, although the initiative qualified for the ballot this past week, it might be killed off, and it could be the Supreme Court that does it in. “Opponents might challenge the measure as unconstitutional, on the grounds that it counts as a constitutional revision and not an amendment. The debate eventually moves onto the California Supreme Court, and the measure could die there.” Initiatives can amend the state Constitution, but can’t revise it. (See here.)
One problem with the “revision” argument, however, is that the initiative doesn’t purport to change the Constitution at all, just the Government Code. That’s why it qualified with the number of signatures necessary for a statutory amendment, which is much fewer than needed for a constitutional amendment. Perhaps the opponents’ argument would be that you can’t split California by statute, only by changing the Constitution.
