SJR 2004 (LSB 6365SV (1) 88)

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 2004

BY  COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT

(SUCCESSOR TO SSB 3187)

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

A Joint Resolution designating the honeybee as the official state insect for the State of Iowa.

   WHEREAS, honeybees (apis mellifera) most likely originated in tropical Africa and were brought to the new world with the first Spanish and English colonists and quickly escaped into the wild, eventually populating the entire western hemisphere; and
   WHEREAS, bees pollinate approximately 75 percent of the fruit, nut, and vegetable plants grown in the United States; and
   WHEREAS, one-third of the food produced in the United States depends on insect pollination, 80 percent of which is due to honeybees; and
   WHEREAS, tiny as they are, honeybees play a key role in Iowa’s agroecosystem, with plant pollination performed by honeybees valued at an estimated $92 million annually; and
   WHEREAS, approximately 4,500 Iowa beekeepers manage around 45,000 colonies of honeybees that produce over 4 million pounds of honey annually; and
   WHEREAS, limited field trials in Clarion, Iowa, revealed crop yield gains of 8 percent in soybean fields with honeybee hives placed in close proximity; and
   WHEREAS, honeybee pollination is critical to plant and human survival; NOW THEREFORE,
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  STATE INSECT DESIGNATED.  The honeybee (apis mellifera) is designated and shall officially be known as the state insect of Iowa.
    Sec. 2.  APPROPRIATE REPRESENTATIONS.  The director of the department of cultural affairs shall obtain appropriate pictures and other representations of the honeybee and shall display the pictures and representations in an appropriate place in the state historical museum.
    Sec. 3.  OFFICIAL REGISTER.  The editor of the Iowa official register shall include an appropriate picture and commentary of the honeybee in the Iowa official register along with the pictures of the state rock, state flower, state bird, and state tree.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This joint resolution designates the honeybee as the official state insect of Iowa. The director of the department of cultural affairs shall obtain pictures and other appropriate representations of the state insect and display the pictures and information in the state historical museum. The editor of the Iowa official register shall include a picture of the state insect along with pictures of the state rock, state flower, state bird, and state tree.