High Desert County, California facts for kids
A new idea has come up in California: creating a new county called High Desert County. This new county would be made from parts of three big counties: Los Angeles, Kern, and San Bernardino.
Why a New County?
For many years, people living in the desert parts of Los Angeles, Kern, and San Bernardino counties have felt different from those in the big cities. The desert areas have their own unique culture and geography. Because of these differences, people have tried since the 1970s to create a new county just for the high desert regions.
William J. Knight's Idea
In 1998, a state senator named William J. Knight had a plan. He wanted to create a new county from the northern part of Los Angeles County and the eastern part of Kern County.
That year, Senator Knight suggested a new law (called a bill) to create a special group. This group would study if a new county should be formed. He also introduced another bill to make it easier for people to vote on the idea. Usually, you need to collect many signatures to get something on the ballot (the paper you vote on). Knight wanted to remove this step.
He hoped that if people could vote directly, the idea wouldn't be stopped by other lawmakers. These lawmakers wanted to keep cities like Santa Clarita, Lancaster, and Palmdale in Los Angeles County. They also wanted to keep Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, and Mojave and California City in Kern County.
To get the vote on the ballot, Knight also planned to change the California Constitution. The Constitution is like the rulebook for the state. His change would let only people living in the proposed new county vote on whether it should be created. This change would need a two-thirds vote from the California Legislature (the state's lawmaking body). In the end, the idea was changed. Instead of voting on a new county right away, they decided to form "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." This means they would study what services people in the desert get and if a new county could afford to run itself.
Carl Boyer's Vision
Another person who thought about a new county was Santa Clarita, California founder Carl Boyer. Starting in the 1970s, he believed that the northern parts of the San Fernando Valley should break away from Los Angeles County.
In January 2013, Boyer again said that Santa Clarita and other dry, desert-like communities north of the San Fernando Valley should "secede" (break away) from Los Angeles County. He felt they should form their "own new county." He even suggested names like "High Desert County," "Mountain County," or "Land of the Dry Rivers County." His main point was that these areas needed to separate from Los Angeles County.
