LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas is keeping the "Natural State" as its official nickname after lawmakers on Wednesday shot down a bill that would add the "Land of Opportunity" as another moniker.
Rep. David Sanders, a Little Rock Republican who sponsored the bill, originally proposed changing the state's motto altogether. But he watered down his legislation after he faced opposition from the governor, tourism officials and other legislators.
Even the diluted version didn't make it out of a House committee after tourism director Joe David Rice shot down Sanders' new name as a means to confuse people. He held up printouts of other nations that have been proclaimed as lands of opportunity: Iraq, India, Israel, Brazil, Canada and Chile.
"No matter where you look — Eastern hemisphere, Western hemisphere, Northern hemisphere, Southern hemisphere — you got another land of opportunity," Rice said. "It's not that it's a bad phrase, but we think it's reached the point that it's a clichÉ."
Even Arkansas has used the motto before, from 1953 to 1995, when the Legislature adopted the "Natural State" as the state's official nickname.
Sanders said the second name would portray the state as friendly to business and recognize the state's success stories and famous sons, like former President Bill Clinton and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. "It says, yes, there is in fact there is more to Arkansas," he said.
But some lawmakers on the committee didn't buy it.
Rep. Larry Cowling, D-Foreman, who once sponsored a bill making the pecan Arkansas' official nut, said he's asked tourists why they come here.
"They'll say, 'The Natural State. We're coming for the springs, the lakes, the apple blossom festival,'" Cowling said.
Gov. Mike Beebe has spoken out against the bill, saying the Legislature has more important things to worry about it.
Arkansas also has been called the "Wonder State," the "Bear State" and the "Toothpick State."