List of U.S. County Secession Proposals - California

California

• In Northern California, three proposed county plans failed in the 1990s: Redwood County (western parts of Mendocino and Sonoma counties), Tahoe County (eastern parts of Nevada, Placer and El Dorado counties) and Central Valley County (of western Merced and Fresno counties).
• In Southern California, there are 6 proposed counties across the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, within Los Angeles County (about 4) and Orange County, California (two North/West and East/South halves, its boundary on the Newport Freeway or Laguna Freeway).
• Mission County, California, to be formed from the northern portion of Santa Barbara County, California.
• High Desert County, California, to be formed largely from northern Los Angeles County, California as well as portions of San Bernardino County, California and Kern County, California. Proposed by late state senator Pete Knight (cf.) in 2002.
• A writer to the Los Angeles Times in 1997 indicated a sentiment from south Orange County, California residents that they would seek to secede from the county if it insisted on building a new airport on the former site of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. The airport plan was eventually discarded in favor of the Orange County Great Park plan.
• Prior to the formation of Orange County, California, residents of Anaheim, California in 1870 pushed a bill in the state assembly for the creation of an Anaheim County, California. The proposal had the support of San Francisco.
• An attempt in the late 19th century (1870-80?) to create "San Antonio County" in present-day Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
• In 2002, residents of the city of Corona proposed Corona County to include the western edge of Riverside County.
• In the late 1980s, some residents of the Coachella Valley of Riverside County failed to create a new county: Cahuilla County.
• In 1988, there was a serious effort, including a vote on the subject, to divide San Bernardino County into its urban Southwestern corner, which would have retained the name, and a new Mojave County to comprise the vast, sparsely populated Northern and Eastern portions.
• Proposed counties in the L.A. County: High Desert County north of the Pacific Crest Trail, Long Beach or Los Cerritos County(southeast corner) up to the Pomona Freeway, San Gabriel County down to the Santa Ana Freeway, South Bay or Palos Verdes County (southwest corner) and western corner of L.A. County where Malibu, California is located could be Malibu or Topanga County.