- Utah Sen. Kirk Cullimore proposes a bill to make Android the state's official mobile operating system.
- The bill sparked a debate among lawmakers over iPhone vs. Android supremacy.
SALT LAKE CITY — 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.
"Is this a real bill?" asked Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork.
Yes. Yes, it is.
SB138, 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).
"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.
But, he added, "I'm the only one in my family – all my kids, my wife, they all have iPhones – but I'm holding strong."
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.
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.
"I don't expect this to really get out of committee," he said.
Cullimore has sponsored unusual bills before. In 2023 – after a lively debate on the Senate floor – his resolution encouraging Utahns to celebrate Halloween on the last Friday in October failed to advance.
Asked if this Android bill is along the same lines as his Halloween proposal, Cullimore was firm.
"No, the Halloween bill is serious," he said, promising it will come back to Capitol Hill "at some point."
The other senators nearby just laughed.
