OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a bill designating Suciasaurus rex as the state’s official dinosaur.
Inslee signed House Bill 1020 into law on Thursday, local TV station KING5 reported.
The new law honors a therapod fossil discovered in 2012 at Sucia Island State Park in Washington’s San Juan Islands.
He fossil belonged to a therapod, a two-legged carnivore like Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus rex, according to the Burke Museum. The fossil was a thigh bone slightly smaller than that of a T. rex. Because the fossil is incomplete, paleontologists were unable to identify its exact family or species.
Rep. Melanie Morgan, D-Parkland, sponsored the bill starting in 2019 at the suggestion of a group of fourth-graders in her district.
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The Elmhurst Elementary class in the Franklin Pierce School District researched the dinosaur and how a bill becomes law and then brought the idea to Morgan’s office.
Designating Suciasaurus rex as the state dinosaur has always been tied to civic engagement for our youth and their government,” Morgan said in a statement after the House passed the bill. “Pass your Dino-mite bill It shows that we value their opinions and their contributions to our communities.”
Inslee also recognized eighth grader Athena Tauscher as “Washingtonian of the Day” Thursday for her work on the bill.
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