In regard to splitting California into three states, this is provided for in the Constitution, Article 4, Section 3:
“...no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”
Based on this, if the California legislature votes to split into three states, all it takes is a majority vote in the House of Representatives and Senate to make it so. There is no requirement that the Executive approve it in any way.
As far as State secession goes, I do not believe it is Constitutional at all. There is no provision for it in the Constitution by design. And we had a war that decided that.
Pico Act 1859 was the last time California actually passed a bill to split California into separate states. Unfortunately the US Congress failed to vote on the bill, since the Southern States were trying to secede.
Can’t we revive the Pico Act of 1859, have Congress vote on it, and in the process amend the act to create multiple states?
Come to think of it, this sounds exactly like what was happening prior to 1860. Instead of slave states and free states, we now have conservative states and Socialist/Progressive states vying for power. Actually large “Urban Socialist/Progressive Voting Blocks” trying to control elections.
If we can require, through a Convention of States, that each state’s vote in the Electoral College be allocated by how each Congressional District voted (not statewide winner take all), the threat of election fraud would be vastly diminished, and the conservative complexion in Congress would be a lot redder.
They ignore the Constitution when it suits them. Virginia never gave permission for West Virginia to secede.