As lawmakers spar over a wide range of issues in the final days of the Alaska Legislature’s regular session, one idea is bringing Republicans, Democrats and independents together.
The state House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday to make the giant green cabbage Alaska’s official state vegetable.
“Let us leave partisanship behind, and let's move towards a brighter, greener future,” said Rep. DeLena Johnson, a Republican who sponsored House Bill 202 at the request of a community member in her home city of Palmer.
If approved in the Senate, the giant green cabbage would join the willow ptarmigan, the king salmon, the Sitka spruce and the pre-1964 Winchester Model 70 rifle as one of Alaska’s official state symbols.
“Some people would think if you hear the words ‘cabbage bill’ that maybe we have nothing else to do. And that's, of course, not true,” Johnson said. “This is … a piece of our marketing of Alaska and our agriculture.”
But not just a piece of marketing, Johnson said.
The giant green cabbage — the O-S Cross cabbage, to be precise — is a symbol of Alaska’s history, Johnson said. Almost every year for the past 90 years, Johnson said, cabbage-growers have competed in a weigh-off at the Alaska State Fair. Palmer’s own Scott Robb set a world record with his 138-and-a-quarter-pound cabbage back in 2012.
The giant green cabbage, enabled by the midnight sun, is also a fitting symbol of Alaskans’ spirit, Johnson told House Speaker Bryce Edgmon.
“It's resilient. It's enormous, and it somehow survives so many conditions,” she said. “(It) would never thrive in other states, Mr. Speaker, and certainly never get this big.”
There’s very little time left in this year’s legislative session, which must adjourn by May 20, but the bill could move quickly through the Senate. It’s already scheduled for a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Thursday.
Whether it will come up for a final vote and pass into law is unclear. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat who as Senate Rules Committee chair is responsible for scheduling bills, cast doubt on the prospect.
“We have more important things to do right now,” he said.
