The largest county in the United States has voted to leave California.
San Bernardino, the largest geographic county in America, and the 14th largest by population, with more than two million people, voted in the November election to study the possibility of secession from California and forming their own state.
KTLA says San Bernardino would need approval from California and Congress to form the first state since Hawaii in 1959.
There is “a lot of frustration overall” with state government and how public dollars are spent, with far too little coming to the county, said Curt Hagman, chairman of the Board of Supervisors that placed the proposal on the ballot. The county will look at whether billions of dollars in state and federal funds was fairly shared with local governments in the Inland Empire.
From record inflation to friction over the state’s long-running COVID-19 pandemic policies, “it’s been a rough few years” for residents, Hagman said.
Since the proposal passed, the county’s next step is to form a committee — likely composed of public and private sector members — to conduct an analysis of funding that will compare San Bernardino to other counties.