Watch your back, North Dakota. A cluster of northern Colorado counties, sick of restrictive gun laws and clean energy mandates, are taking the first steps toward creating a new state, tentatively known as North Colorado.
The Weld County Commissioners to place a measure on the November 5 ballot asking voters whether they want to join their fellow rural counties in forming a new state.
Weld County Commissioners Chairman William Garcia released a statement after the meeting, saying, “The Concerns of rural Coloradoans have been ignored for years. The last session was the straw the broke the camel’s back for many people.” Several other counties, Cheyenne, Sedgewick, and Yuma, will also be placing the 51st state referendum on the fall ballot. Several more are considering adding the referendum as well.
With democrats in control of the governor’s office, as well as both houses of the legislature, the state has recently passed bills restricting access to guns, as well as doubling renewable energy mandates for rural areas. Protestors have been vocal and two democratic state senators, Angela Giron and John Morse, are already facing recall elections over their support of the gun legislation.
So how soon will we see North Colorado on the back of a quarter? Well, even if the Colorado state legislature passes the ballot measures, the state would need to amend their constitution and then take their request for statehood to Congress. While the President himself doesn’t actually need to sign off on the new state, the birth of Northern Colorado would require a majority vote from both houses of Congress. So good luck with that.