A bill creating a commission to study and recommend new designs for the Utah state flag earned committee approval Tuesday.
The House Government Operations Committee voted 8-2 for HB219, which would form an 11-member panel to review flag proposals and ultimately issue recommendations to lawmakers later this year.
“There would be a very short, quick timeline,” said bill sponsor Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton. “This commission would have to really get after it.”
Utah’s current flag is more than 100-years old and largely consists of a variation of the state seal on a blue background. The design includes a number of images symbolic to Utah’s history — including sego lilies, a beehive and dates corresponding to the arrival of Mormon settlers in the Salt Lake Valley and Utah earning statehood — but violates most principles of good flag design espoused by vexillologists, or flag experts.
John Hartvigsen, a Utah vexillologist, defended the current flag during Tuesday’s committee hearing and said he was concerned about launching a process that could replace it.
“It’s a beautiful flag,” Hartvigsen said. “The symbols on the flag tell the state’s history.”
Handy said the bill, if enacted, would not mandate the adoption of a new flag by the state. It would also designate the current design as Utah’s “historic” flag.
The bill is one of two sponsored this year dealing with the adoption of a new Utah state flag. The other, HB292, proposed immediately replacing the flag with a ready-made design by The Organization for a New Utah Flag, but it failed to gain committee approval.
(Courtesy of The Organization for a New Utah Flag) A proposed redesign of the Utah State Flag.
The description of the HB292 design, known on Capitol Hill as the “Martin” flag, is included in Handy’s bill — with some alteration — as a potential option for the review commission to consider.
Handy’s bill, HB219, will now move to the full House for consideration.
