Various proposals have been made to create a new

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, variously called High Desert County, among other names. It would be formed from portions of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Kern Kern or KERN may refer to: People * Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies Places * Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska * Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienkir ...

and/or

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

counties.

History

Due to cultural and geographic differences between the rural and urban portions of

and

counties, various attempts have been made in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to form a new, rural county in the high desert regions of these counties.

William J. Knight proposal

In 1998, California state senator William J. Knight proposed a plan to create a new county out of the northern half of

and the eastern half of

counties. That year, Knight proposed a bill to create a panel to study whether this county should be created. Knight also introduced a bill to eliminate the signature-collecting step required to get the proposal on the ballot to allow local residents to vote on the matter. By placing the proposal on the ballot, Knight hoped that the proposal would not be blocked by legislators who wanted to keep Santa Clarita,

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

and Palmdale in Los Angeles County,

Victor Valley The Victor Valley is a valley in the Mojave Desert and subregion of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino County in Southern California. It is located east of the Mojave's Antelope Valley, north of the Cajon Pass and the San Bernardino Valley, n ...

in San Bernardino County, and Mojave and California City in Kern County. In an effort to place the vote on the ballot, Knight planned to draft an amendment to the

California Constitution The Constitution of California () is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's constitution was drafted in both English ...

that would change voting procedures for forming a new county, allowing only people within the boundary of the proposed area to vote on the matter. The amendment would require a two-thirds vote of the

California Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

. The legislative proposal was ultimately changed to call for "a commission to study the services received by desert residents of Los Angeles, Kern and San Bernardino counties, and to evaluate the financial feasibility of creating a new county."

Carl Boyer proposal

Beginning in the 1970s,

Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most popul ...

founder Carl Boyer argued that northern portions of the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

should secede from Los Angeles County. In January 2013, Boyer "again argued that Santa Clarita and other high desert semi-arid communities separate north of the

secede from Los Angeles County and form our own new county. Call it High Desert County or Mountain County or Land of the Dry Rivers County -whatever- we need to secede from Los Angeles County".

References

{{reflist Proposed counties of the United States Geography of California

History

William J. Knight proposal

Carl Boyer proposal

See also

References