PHOENIX — Arizona has a state bird, a state reptile, a state gemstone and even a state firearm.
Now it may get a state metal, if for no other reason than a civics lesson for a group of Copper Creek Elementary School students.
Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, agreed to sponsor legislation to declare copper the “official state metal.” He even got 35 other lawmakers to sign on in support.
Now comes the real test: Can Smith make it translate from idea to law?
The legislation stems from a discussion that started several years ago in Jennifer Royer’s fourth-grade class at Copper Creek, in the Amphitheater School District. She said students were learning about the various state symbols and asked what they might add.
The consensus, she said, was copper.
That prompted a call to the Capitol and some suggestions about writing up a proposal.
Royer said she thought nothing more about it until last year’s fourth-graders came up with the same idea. That resulted in the parent of one student with political ties arranging a connection with then-state Sen. Al Melvin, who represented the area.
Melvin never filed legislation. But he did hand the idea off to Smith, his successor, who agreed to back the idea.
Not only did Smith have the measure crafted into SB 1441, he even secured a hearing Monday before the Senate Committee on Natural Resources.
Royer said she’ll be there, along with some of her former students, who are now in fifth and sixth grades.
“They’ll all testify,” Smith said. “And this is a chance to show the children how laws get done.”
Even those not present will get a lesson: Royer said the school plans a live broadcast of the hearing to other classes.
Smith conceded designating copper as the state metal is hardly the most pressing issue of the legislative session. But he said the same could be said about having the bola tie as the official state neckwear or petrified wood as the official state fossil.
Conversely, Smith said, that does not mean the legislation has no purpose.
“This is 100 percent their idea,” he said, noting the students have a right to seek to influence legislation.
If the measure clears the committee on Monday, that’s hardly the end of the students’ campaign. The bill would still require approval of the full Senate and then both committee hearings and a House vote before going to the governor.
