system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is there an initiative to split California into six different states?

There is a ballot in California to split the most populous state into six different states, creatively all titled, North California, South California, West California, East California, Jefferson and Silicon Valley. 

They would have varying populations ranging from 900,000 and 11,000,000. This would give them anywhere in between 1 and 16 representatives in the house, but would technically sextuple California's power in the Senate; both of which could piss off a lot of other states.

My question could be asked in a variety of ways: Why these six? What are the political and social differences between them? Economic? Moral? What benefit could California as a whole get from being sliced up like this?
gpt
The law started from a proposal made by a venture capitalist who made his money in Silicon Valley. By splitting California into six separate states Silicon Valley would be it's own state with its own legislative power, and therefore would not be subject to current California law which includes protections for consumers and employees. 

This would also separate Silicon Valley from north California which is much poorer, and thus the distribution of state tax revenue would significantly be altered. This would be like separating Las Vegas from Nevada. 

Las Vegas is a primary source for state revenue but without having Las Vegas "subsidize" the rest of Nevada more resources (and potentially tax savings) could be seen for Las Vegas residents, but would leave the rest of the residents in the State to deal with a huge revenue shortfall which is why it is a terrible idea. 

Imagine if NYC was a separate state from NY, and if Austin was a separate state from Texas. Higher income metropolitan areas typically subsidize the poorer, more rural parts of a state and Traper (the VC guy) doesn't real care about anything else except his own little bubble.