Assembly Member Jacqui Irwin, center, confers with state Sens. Josh Becker, left, and Brian Jones during a legislative session at the Capitol on Sept. 11. The number of seats in the Legislature hasn’t changed since 1879.

At a recent meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, Assembly Member James Gallagher revived an idea that has echoed through northern and inland communities for years: splitting California in two. 

Although framed as a response to Proposition 50, his proposal reflects a deeper frustration shared by many who feel voiceless in their own state. But dividing California is not a serious solution. And the state is not too big to govern. The truth is that our state Legislature is now too small to function.

California has fewer legislators per capita than any other state. The Assembly has 80 seats and the Senate 40, figures established in the 1879 Constitution and left unchanged even as the population grew from under 1 million to nearly 40 million.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Today, a single state senator represents more people than live in South Dakota. Districts of this scale make competitive elections the exception rather than the rule. Reaching such a vast number of residents requires money, name recognition and organizational infrastructure that challengers rarely have. The mechanics of campaigning tilt toward incumbents and the dominant party.

A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll in 2022 found that a majority of respondents believed the state was headed in the........

© San Francisco Chronicle