{"id":7171,"date":"2025-10-16T02:39:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T02:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/7171\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T02:39:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T02:39:06","slug":"fresno-native-leads-california-independence-bid-aims-for-546k-signatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/7171\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno native leads California independence bid, aims for 546K+ signatures"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Californians could soon get the chance to weigh in on the state\u2019s future as an independent country. <\/p>\n

Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber, announced Wednesday that a proposed initiative to put the question of California independence before voters has been cleared to begin collecting signatures.<\/p>\n

The measure, spearheaded by Fresno native, Marcus Evans, would ask voters in November 2028: \u201cShould California leave the United States and become a free and independent country?\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the initiative, the vote would not immediately alter California\u2019s government or its relationship with the U.S. <\/p>\n

[RELATED] Fresno man advocates California’s independence<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, if at least 50% of registered voters turn out and 55% vote \u201cyes,\u201d it would signal \u201ca vote of no confidence in the United States of America\u201d and establish the public\u2019s desire for independence.<\/p>\n

The measure also calls for a new commission to assess the state\u2019s viability as an independent nation.<\/p>\n

The Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance estimate the initiative could cost around $10 million in one-time election and commission setup expenses, with about $2 million in annual costs to operate the commission.<\/p>\n

To qualify for the ballot, Evans must gather signatures from 546,651 registered voters, five percent of those who voted in the 2022 gubernatorial election.<\/p>\n

Signatures must be submitted to county elections officials by April 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

If approved, the measure would mark another step in a long history of discussions about California independence, a topic that has drawn both passionate support and sharp criticism over the years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Californians could soon get the chance to weigh in on the state\u2019s future as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[7,1586,204,112,114,113,2788,1734,7353,7383,6392],"class_list":{"0":"post-7171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-commission","10":"tag-election","11":"tag-fresno","12":"tag-fresno-headlines","13":"tag-fresno-news","14":"tag-independence","15":"tag-initiative","16":"tag-marcus-evans","17":"tag-signatures","18":"tag-voters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}