A More Perfect Union
By WA Rep. Rob Chase
For decades I have been interested in a New State of East Washington State; from thecrest of the Cascade Mountain Range to the North Idaho State Line. Even if the State Legislature passed the requirement of Article 4 Sec. 3 of the Federal Constitution to form a new state; we would probably have to wait for the admission of a blue state like Puerto Rico, or Guam, before the U.S. Congress would consider it.
Some critics assume immediately that we are talking about secession, or establishing a Theocracy, both of which are not true. Despite critics, it is not about secession from the Union or a Theocracy. Neither option is possible in a guaranteed Republic for each state. We want Representation at the State level, which we do not have. Currently, every Statewide official in Washington State is a Democrat, as is the vast majority of the State Legislature, and Judiciary.
There are micro-schisms in America at the state level. Denser urban populations vote Democrat blue, and rural areas vote Republican red. Washington joins similar movements across the Country in Oregon, Illinois, California, and New York State, where denser progressive blue urban areas dominate state government. The Eastern part of Oregon wants to join Idaho, and the Southern part of Illinois wants to join Indiana. I am unsure to how California wants to split up, except that rural areas similarly want their freedom from the urban area regulation overreach and unhelpful policies. We did contact Idaho about joining them like East Oregon is trying to do, except they do not want the progressive blue city of Spokane in their state. I don’t blame them; with the City of Boise growing a deeper purple.
That being said, I took a closer look at the New York State scenario. They simply want to form autonomous regions within the State of New York. There would be three autonomous regions: New York City, Montauk (greater New York City), and the rest of the State being called the New Amsterdam Region. Each region has the sovereignty to operate independently at the State level. However, everything Federal would remain the same. Not completely perfect, but it is a earnest effort to start toward the goal of representation.
As a state legislator from Eastern Washington State, I wondered how the New York effort could be adopted in my state. I introduced HB 2085 just before the end of the legislative session in April of 2025. The bill only requests funding to establish a task force to report to the Legislature on how this vision could be made possible. Not whether the state would support it, or not.
The task force’s report would be a good start with interesting perspectives and create deliberate dialogue. The plan is to divide Washington State into two autonomous regions. The Puget Sound Region, and the Columbia Region, wherein each region would have its own regional: Governor, Legislature, Judiciary, and Regional Constitution. The Federal Government remains intact with the current Senators and Congressmen, highways, river ways, reservations, etc. The Columbia Region would consist of Washington Counties east of the Cascades and just north of the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.
We have nicknamed the bill, “WIN-WIN for Washington”. In the Columbia Region, we would be represented by our natives, and the Puget Sound Region would get to keep its excess monies. With Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon, King County with populous Seattle has financially subsidized state taxes for most of the other counties in the state
Regionalization would result in savings to the Puget Sound Region of several billion dollars annually, which could be dedicated to fixing the Puget Sound Ferry System, and reducing Highway gridlock in the Seattle Metropolis. The Puget Sound Region can keep their monies, and the Columbia region can obtain more localized representation per the graphics of our last two U.S. Senator races. In 2022 the unofficial Columbia Region overwhelmingly supported Republican Tiffany Smiley
and in 2024
Republican Raul Garcia.
The Columbia region would be financially similar to Idaho’s free market and
conservative policies if we did forfeit tax revenues for fair representation. Many of my friends have moved to Idaho in the recent years. I also believe many; small to medium size businesses, would relocate to the potentially lower tax, less regulation overreach in the Colombia Region. I am sure rural regional expenditures would be more value added.
There are lawful justifications for forming regions within a state:
Federalist No. 40: “It is the precious right of the people to "abolish or alter their governments as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness,” said James Madison.
WA State Constitution Article I, Section 1: “All political power is inherent in the
people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights.”
National Environmental Policy Act (P.L. 91-190, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321 et seq., as amended) (defines) the human environment as consisting of ecological, aesthetic, historical, cultural, social, and health elements of life in the communities.
Although, I have heard many good ideas on how to form autonomous regions that
would only fund value-added legislation, I will simply say I want to be represented by my neighbors. I will continue to work hard to make this legislation a reality in my lifetime, and if successful, it could be a beacon of hope to other states in this progressive or conservative (blue or red) predicament.
There is strength in unity. However, diversity of thought begs for fair representation.
With regional and self-governing representation in the United States, we will have a more perfect union.