The honeybee may soon join the bluebonnet and mockingbird as a Texas state symbol.
The American Honey Bee Protection Agency visited the Capitol Tuesday to convince lawmakers the buzz about honeybees is true. Bees are critical to the agriculture and commerce of the state. For example, they help Texas farmers produce more cotton than anywhere else in the country by pollinating the crop.
"If the Bluebonnet is the official flower and its official pollinator is the honey bee, then it goes hand-in-hand that they should be there,” Walter “The Bee Czar” Schumacher said. “Why this is important: Although while you make something the official something of the state of Texas doesn't mean we can't destroy it, it just means to look at it with a little more respect."
Other possible Texas symbols were discussed such as naming the cowboy hat the official Texas hat, the Hico steak the official steak and making "The Lone Star State” Texas' official nickname.