A California ballot initiative proposing that the state become its own country and secede from the United States has been filed and cleared for signature gathering.

If the measure makes it onto the November 2028 ballot, it would ask voters: “Should California leave the United States and become a free and independent country?” local news outlet KCRA3 reported on Friday.

The guidelines would require 50 percent of registered voters to participate and a “yes” vote from 55 percent of voters, which would indicate “a vote of no confidence in the United States of America,” according to the report. The measure would further show that the “will of the people of California” is to become a country. 

“According to the initiative’s language, it would not change California’s current government or relationship with the U.S. However, it would create a commission to report on California’s viability as an independent country,” the report states. “The initiative estimates one-time election-related costs, and forming a commission on national sovereignty and independence would cost $10 million. It estimates that operating the commission would take another $2 million in annual state costs.”

The circulation deadline is July 22, and the initiative requires 546,651 valid signatures. 

“Legally seceding the country would require a constitutional amendment, which would require the approval of Congress and 38 states,” the report notes.