Last year, I complained when the Legislature voted to make the Orca whale the official state marine mammal.

Now, legislators may give us a state vegetable.

For decades we’ve had a state flower (the coast rhododendron), a nickname: (The Evergreen State), a state bird (American Goldfinch), a state tree (Western hemlock) and a state song (“Washington, My Home”).

In recent years, we’ve added a state fish (steelhead trout), state gem (petrified wood), state dance (square dance), state folk song: (“Roll On, Columbia, Roll On”), state fruit (apple), state grass (bluebunch wheatgrass), state tartan (of green, blue, white, red, yellow and black), a state insect (green darner dragonfly), a state fossil (Columbian mammoth) and, as of last year, a state marine mammal (the Orca). Most came from school civics projects.

Typically, a class writes a bill; then the students follow the process as a legislator introduces it, it’s reviewed by the code reviser’s office, the House or Senate government operations committee holds hearings, legislators pass it and the governor signs it.

The bill that passed in the State House of Representatives would make the Walla Walla sweet onion the state vegetable.

This year the kids are getting a real life lesson: opposition. But, when the bill went to the state Senate, opposition came from the State Potato Commission, which argued that Washington produces many more potatoes than onions and that while one county produces Walla Walla sweets, farmers grow potatoes throughout the state.

On the other hand, naming the potato as Washington’s State vegetable might offend Idaho, and the Walla Walla sweet is unique to Southeast Washington.

Teach the kids a lesson by defeating the bill. At least it got a hearing and a vote in the House, which is more than most bills get.

Last year, after I called the Orca bill a waste of the Legislature’s time, a member of the Senate government operations committee said it was an easy way to teach kids about government.

But, it’s giving us too many state icons. So, I suggest adding “sunset” clauses to all such bills in the future. The sunset clause would say that the law would expire in 10 years. So, if someone wants to make clam nectar the official state drink, we’d be stuck with it for only 10 years.

Olympics without nationalism

Twice last week, the Winter Olympics were on television when guests arrived and asked, “How are we doing?” or, “Who’s winning?”

Those questions miss the point of the Olympics, with their dozen winter sports, each with men’s and women’s divisions and some with more than a dozen events.

Let’s enjoy the great performance by long-track speed skater Shani Davis, who defied the U.S. skating establishment by skipping a team event to concentrate on winning the individual championship at 1,000 meters.