CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1850

Introduced by Assembly Member Pellerin
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Berman, Hart, Jim Patterson, Ting, Waldron, and Wood)
(Coauthors: Senators Becker, Laird, and Wilk)

January 17, 2024

An act to add Section 425.13 to the Government Code, relating to state government.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1850, as introduced, Pellerin. State slug.
Existing law establishes the state flag and the state’s emblems, including, among other things, the poppy as the official state flower, the California redwood as the official state tree, and the California gray whale as the official state marine mammal.
This bill would establish the banana slug (Ariolimax) as the official state slug.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California is its own Floristic Province due to the tremendous amount of endemic plant species present in the state, indicative of a unique evolutionary history. Banana slugs (Ariolimax) are an example of the rapid evolution that has made California extremely biologically diverse.
(b) Banana slugs belong to the Ariolimax genus, which includes Ariolimax dolichophallus, Ariolimax californicus, Ariolimax columbianus, Ariolimax stramineus, Ariolimax buttoni, Ariolimax brachyphallus, and all other future identified species.
(c) Banana slugs contribute to the health of their environment through their role as detritivores, including playing an important ecological role in cleaning up detritus, distributing seeds and spores, acting as pollinators, and eating poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) and death angel mushrooms (Amanita ocreata).
(d) Banana slug mucus, which has been discovered to be a liquid crystal, has many uses for the banana slug, including locomotion, protection, nutrition, and as a means of sending chemical messages to mates and predators.
(e) Banana slugs have a symbiotic relationship with the state tree, the California redwood (Sequoia sempervirens, Sequoia gigantea), where their habitats overlap. Banana slugs do not eat the seedlings of the Coast Redwood, but instead eat the plants that compete with the seedlings for light, water, and nutrients. In return, the mature redwoods provide the banana slug with the cool, moist habitat they need.
(f) Banana slugs have oozed into popular culture. Since 1986, the banana slug has served as the iconic mascot of the University of California, Santa Cruz, as famously showcased in the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction.
(g) Banana slugs can be found throughout California, ranging from Del Norte County to San Diego County, and on the Channel Islands. Seven species of banana slugs in total have been identified in California, and only one of those species is known to be found outside of California.
(h) Naming the banana slug as the official state slug of California will promote appreciation, education, and research of banana slugs in this state.

SEC. 2.

 Section 425.13 is added to the Government Code, to read:

425.13.
 The banana slug (Ariolimax) is the official state slug.