NEW YORK — Texas lawmakers, debating how to close a projected $15 billion deficit this month, took some time off to vote on another pressing issue: Should Western swing be declared the official state music?
In Maine, at issue was the whoopie pie. Legislators there designated the “baked good made of two cakes with a creamy frosting between them” as the official state treat. That’s not to be confused with the official state dessert, a pie made with — what else? — wild Maine blueberries.
At least 10 states have considered measures to create official symbols during this year’s legislative session. The Browning M1911 automatic pistol is now Utah’s state firearm, and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” became Oklahoma’s official gospel song with a stroke of Gov. Mary Fallin’s pen.
Lawmakers shouldn’t be wasting their time on such issues, said Andy Wilson, a researcher at Public Citizen’s Texas chapter, a nonprofit government watchdog. State budget deficits may total as much as $112 billion in the coming fiscal year, according to the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“We have a billions-of-dollars budget deficit that has to get closed, and for the first time since World War II, Texas is planning on not fully funding our education,” Wilson said in a telephone interview from Austin, the capital. “The fact that lawmakers would be spending any amount of time on any other issue is worrisome.”
Western swing, an amalgam of country fiddle tunes and jazz, now shares its official Texas status with the Mexican free-tailed bat, the state flying mammal since 1995; tortilla chips and salsa, the official snack since 2003; and the cast-iron Dutch oven, which became the state cooking implement in 2005.
State Sen. Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio, who introduced the Texas bill in March, chose Western swing for what his resolution called the “foot-tapping tempo” heard “all across our state, with countless Texans repeating the time-honored steps that have been kicking up sawdust on Texas dance floors for generations.” The music was popularized by groups such as Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys.
Criticism that bills like his are time-wasters “would indicate that because we’re working on this for five minutes that we’re not working on the budget, which is unrealistic,” he said in a telephone interview from Austin. “It didn’t divert significant time of mine or my staff’s from issues that are admittedly more important.”
States have been granting official status since 1894, when the red clover became Vermont’s flower and America’s first state symbol apart from the flags and seals adopted with statehood, according to Benjamin Shearer, author of “State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols.”
The designation of official symbols grew popular in the 1920s to encourage civic engagement among children, and began to morph into a promotional vehicle for tourism and commerce in the 1950s, said Shearer, who co-wrote the 495-page book with his wife, Barbara.
Official symbols often reflect things long associated with a state, such as Louisiana’s official crustacean, the crawfish, and Florida’s official beverage, orange juice, according to Shearer. Others convey history: Massachusetts’s state bean is the navy bean, which lawmakers determined was the original bean in the “famous and venerable” Boston baked bean recipe.
Most measures aren’t controversial and pass quickly, Shearer said, though that wasn’t the case in Maine. The original proposal called for the whoopie pie to be the state dessert. After some lawmakers warned against glorifying the snack food amid concerns about childhood obesity, the word “dessert” was changed to “treat,” and the blueberry pie was designated the official dessert.
In New York, Republican State Sen. Michael F. Nozzolio has been trying to make sweet corn the official state vegetable for five years. Nozzolio’s bill, which he reintroduced in April and which is awaiting a vote in the Senate, is the brainchild of Linda Townsend’s high school civics class at Dana West Junior-Senior High in Port Byron.
Corn isn’t running unopposed. Democratic State Sen. David Carlucci proposed in March to award the distinction to the onion instead.
In Alabama, the pecan has official status.
“The fact that Alabama has a state nut is my favorite, because it’s open to so many good jokes,” Shearer said.