SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 When a reporter asked Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore about his new bill designating Android as the state’s preferred mobile operating system, his fellow senators sitting near him reacted with a mix of applause and boos.<\/p>\n
“Is this a real bill?” asked Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork.<\/p>\n
Yes. Yes, it is.<\/p>\n
SB138<\/a>, sponsored by Cullimore, R-Sandy, would make Android, the world’s most popular mobile device operating system, an official state symbol, joining the ranks of the official state cooking pot (the dutch oven), the official state crustacean (the brine shrimp), and the official state mushroom (the porcini).<\/p>\n “Someday, everybody with an iPhone will realize that the technology is better on Android,” Cullimore told reporters during a media availability on Wednesday, the second day of the legislative session<\/a>.<\/p>\n But, he added, “I’m the only one in my family \u2013 all my kids, my wife, they all have iPhones \u2013 but I’m holding strong.”<\/p>\n Cullimore joked that his Android bill is about “discrimination” from iPhone users who complain that text messages from him appear in green bubbles rather than blue.<\/p>\n While this might all seem like a joke, this is an official bill. It’s one of several hundred that are publicly available on the Utah Legislature’s website. But Cullimore doesn’t seem to have much hope that it will do anything besides perhaps stir up the age-old debate of which system is better.<\/p>\n “I don’t expect this to really get out of committee,” he said.<\/p>\n