One southland politician's plans to carve a new state from 13 California counties, including Mariposa and Madera, isn't so popular with his colleagues. Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone presented a proposal Tuesday to create the 51st state of "South California" from Republican-leaning counties stretching from San Diego to Mono counties.
The North County Times reports that his fellow Riverside supervisors were cool to the idea -- particularly to his proposal for using county funds to lead the secession movement.
Instead, the county agreed to allow Stone to hold a summit this fall for local government leaders to discuss problems at the local level caused by Sacramento. Stone's new state of South California would be home to 13.1 million residents, making it the fifth-most populous state in the union. The state wouldn't include Merced County, but Stone said he's willing to make room if other counties are interested in participating.
Secession remains an option, he said.
Read stone's proposal here.
