Five moves, in order
Independence is not a single vote. It is a sequence, and each move has to earn the next one.
This is the whole road, including the parts that are years away and the parts we cannot yet describe with confidence. The commission everyone associates with CalExit is the second of five moves, not the plan itself.
Where this stands today
We are inside move one, and at the very start of move two. The Joint Resolution is drafted and has no author yet. Moves three through five describe what would have to happen after that, and none of it is scheduled.
Once a member introduces it, the sequence can reach a published commission report and talks with Washington in ten months. The ten-month path.
The plan
Five moves, each one earning the next.
We are inside the first and at the very start of the second. Everything after that describes what would have to happen, in the order it would have to happen, and none of it is scheduled.
Move 01
Build capacity
Organized supporters in specific districts, not statewide sentiment. This is the move CalExit is in, and the only one where everything depends on people who are not politicians.
We are here Read move 01 →
Move 02
Establish the facts
A Joint Resolution, and a Blue Ribbon Commission that answers the questions before anyone is asked to vote on them. This is what separates CalExit from every previous attempt.
Read move 02 →
Move 03
Get a vote
The Legislature that commissioned the inquiry places the question before voters. Five of the 14 measures on the November 2026 ballot got there that way.
Read move 03 →
Move 04
Win the vote
A simple majority, fifty percent plus one. Californians already believe the state would be better off. The ballot question is ten points behind that.
Read move 04 →
Move 05
Secure independence
A vote opens a negotiation rather than closing one. The consent Texas v. White describes, and everything that would have to be settled to give effect to it.
Read move 05 →Why the second move exists at all
Most independence movements go straight from capacity to a ballot. CalExit does not, and the reason is a number.
In June 2025, 56% of Californians said the state would be better off as an independent country. Asked how they would vote on a ballot measure, the split was 44% yes to 54% no. Ten points separate the belief from the vote, and those ten points are made of unanswered practical questions rather than hostility.
A campaign that tries to close that gap with advertising is arguing with a reasonable caution. A campaign that closes it with findings is answering it. That is why this plan puts a commission between capacity and the ballot, and why it is slower than the ones that came before it. The polling, in full.
What this is not
The Resolution doesn't declare independence, and it couldn't. Under Texas v. White (1869) a state may become independent through the consent of the states. Unilateral secession isn't available, and we've never argued otherwise. What's being asked for here is a study, conducted by California, about California's own future.
It also doesn't commit any legislator who supports it to voting for independence later. Supporting an inquiry and supporting its possible conclusion are separate positions.
The Resolution is drafted.
It needs one legislator willing to
put their name on it.