海角大神

A long-shot effort to break聽California聽into six separate states got a boost on Monday, when the billionaire venture capitalist behind the proposal said he had gathered enough signatures to place it on the ballot in two years.

Timothy Draper, a founder of a聽Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that has invested in Twitter,聽Skype聽and Tesla, among other companies, has been agitating for months for a ballot initiative to chop the most populous US state into smaller entities.

"It's important because it will help us create a more responsive, more innovative and more local government, and that ultimately will end up being better for all of Californians," said聽Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the campaign. "The idea ... is to create six states with responsive local governments - states that are more representative and accountable to their constituents."

Salazar said Monday that the campaign had gathered more than the roughly 808,000 signatures needed to place the measure on the November, 2016 ballot. Draper and other supporters plan to file the signatures with聽California聽Secretary of State Debra Bowen on Tuesday.

But the plan has raised bipartisan hackles across the state, and opponents say it stands little chance of gaining voter approval. If it does win the support of voters, it must still be passed by聽Congress, which opponents say is also unlikely.

Congressional approval may prove difficult in part because creating five more states would increase the size of Congress, creating ten more US Senators, many of whom are likely to be Democrats.

"This is a colossal and divisive waste of time, energy, and money that will hurt the聽California聽brand," said Steven Maviglio, a Democratic political strategist who has formed the group聽OneCalifornia聽with GOP strategist聽Joe Rodota聽to fight Draper's plan. "It has zero chance of passage. But what it does is scare investment away... at a time when the Governor is leading us to an economic comeback."

Draper's plan would split the world's eighth-largest economy along geographic lines.

One state, to be called聽Silicon Valley, would include the tech hub along with the San Francisco Bay Area. Jefferson, named after the third US president, would encompass the northernmost region. The state capital of聽Sacramento聽would be in North聽California, while聽South聽California聽would be made up of聽San Diego聽and the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles.

, the plan may have serious economic consequences:

Silicon Valley would become the nation's richest state, while Central California would become its poorest, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

L.A. itself would be part of a state called聽West聽California.

Proponents say the division would help create a more business-friendly environment, solve the state's water issues, and ease traffic congestion.聽