What if California adopted a new way to convene the Senate? What if we adopted a process which was more aligned with our original U.S. Constitution (legislature appointments) rather than the post 17th Amendment process (popular election)?
We currently have a bicameral Legislature comprised of 80 elected Assembly members and 40 elected Senators. While both technically represent “the People,” who represents “the counties”? The pre-17th Amendment federal legislature was designed so that the People were represented through the House, the States were represented through the Senate, and the Executive Branch represented the federal government. That system of checks and balances was designed to make State Legislatures more involved in the federal legislative process (and to make voters actually care about the State Legislatures).
How about expanding the California State Senate to 58 members? Each County would have a Senator who was appointed by the County Board of Supervisors. This would place an additional emphasis on the Supervisor elections and establish a system where the counties, as an entity, would have representation in State government.
This approach might just quell the secession movement.