Given that California is the largest state by population but will most likely never be partitioned, an interesting Idea I have is to have California divided into 5 regions for apportionment of state legislative districts for Assembly & Senate. Assembly districts will be drawn based on population & the number of assemblymen will be based upon each region's population; for example if Los Angeles has the highest population, it will have the most assemblymen assigned to it. Each region will however have an equal number of State Senators & the total number of the State Senate's membership shall be divisible by the number of regions(5); State Senate districts will still be based on population but each region will have the same number of Senators regardless of population.
Having this system will ensure balance of power similar to how the U.S. Congress is established with House seats based on population while there are two Senators per state. Forget the U.S. Supreme Court ruling such a measure is unconstitutional because America was established as a Constitutional Republic, not a "One Man, One Vote" Democracy!
California has always had 40 Senators & 80 Assembly-people since 1879 built into it's constitution. However, it's become destructive to freedom in California as Democrats hold a permanent majority in California's state legislature. Each Assembly & Senate district represent roughly 450k & 900k respectively. Regions like the Central Valley, Inland Empire, & Upstate are deprived of proper representation with San Francisco Bay Area liberals dominating much of California's state politics.
The map pictured above shows five different regions in which Assembly & Senate districts will be apportioned in. Following regions will be named Mojave, Los Angeles, California, San Francisco, & Jefferson. Below I will list each of the region's counties, total population*, total number of Assembly seats, & population per regional Senate districts. *=estimates
Number of Assembly seats will be 200(197,500) while the number of Senate seats will be 80(each region having 16 senate seats). Senate districts would be drawn based on the region's population divided by 16.
Mojave
Counties: San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, San BernardinoPopulation: 7.73 million
Assembly Seats: 39
Population per Senate District: 483,125
Los Angeles
Counties: Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura
Population: 13.88 million
Assembly Seats: 70
Population per Senate District: 867,500
California
Counties: Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kern, Monterey, San Benito, Kings, Tulare, Inyo, Fresno, Merced, Madera, Mono, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tuolume, Calaveras, Amador, Alpine, Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo
Population: 7.688 million
Assembly Seats: 39
Population per Senate District: 480,500
San Francisco
Counties: Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Marin, Sonoma, Napa
Population: 8.7 million
Assembly Seats: 44
Population per Senate District: 543,750
Jefferson
Counties: Mendocino, Lake, Sutter, Colusa, Yuba, Nevada, Sierra, Butte, Glenn, Plumas, Tehama, Lassen, Shasta, Trinity, Humboldt, Modoc, Siskiyou, Del Norte
Population: 1.7 million
Assembly Seats: 8
Population per Senate District: 106,250
The only region to have more State Senators than Assembly seats would be Jefferson. While Los Angeles would have the strongest sway over the Assembly, Jefferson would have the strongest sway over the Senate.
This model would give balance of power in large states like California so the most populated region does not hold too much legislative power. The founding fathers of America establish a bicameral Congress where the most populace states had an advantage in the Lower Chamber(House of Representatives) while the least populace states had an advantage in the Upper Chamber(Senate).
Forget about the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision demanding State Senators be based on "One Man, One Vote" principles as America is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. With Donald Trump appointing rock-ribbed conservative judges, Reynolds v. Sims could be overturned.
Credit for the map goes to https://ynot1989.deviantart.com/
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