Many elementary school students in Utah learn that the state bird is a California gull, the state flower is a Sego Lily and the state emblem is a beehive.
But if one senator gets his way, these students would also be memorizing a state mobile operating system.
Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, has introduced a bill that would add to the list of state symbols and name Android the state’s official mobile operating system.
“Is this a real bill?” asked Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, when he first heard about it.
To answer his question, yes it is a real bill.
When asked about SB138 on Wednesday during Senate media availability, Cullimore shared that he is the only person in his family who doesn’t use an iPhone.
“I’m holding strong,” Cullimore said. “It’s about discrimination. I have a green bubble and I get left out.
During that same availability, it became clear that he is also one of the only people in the Senate who doesn’t have an iPhone as his fellow senators began to tease him.
“Do I need to declare conflict?” said Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, as the Senate leadership discussed Cullimore’s use of Android.
Cullimore has also received complaints that his bill is a waste of time. To that, he said, “We recognize state rocks and state flowers and state cooking pans and all of that. This was a lighthearted attempt at a little levity during the session.”
He shared that he often gets picked on for having an Android phone. Also, since most of the senators use iPhones, he often gets left out of text threads.
On Thursday, when Cullimore was a few minutes late to media availability, Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, asked, “Where’s our Android user?”
The group of senators began to joke that he was late because his Android phone probably wasn’t working so he didn’t know where he was supposed to be.
Cullimore explained to the Deseret News that the idea for the bill first came when he was working with Google on different legislation.
“I jokingly said, I’m going to run a bill to make sure Android is recognized in the state of Utah,” he added.
Cullimore said he encourages Tim Cook or anyone else from Apple to come and oppose the bill.
“Have fun,” he said. “We take this session very seriously, five minutes of fun.”
The last time the state symbol list was edited was last year, when Sen. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, ran SB230 which enshrined in state law the correct spelling of the word Utahn.
Cullimore said he doesn’t think the bill will make it out of committee because many lawmakers and other state employees use iPhones.
“Someday, everybody with iPhones will realize that the technology is better on Android,” Cullimore he teased.