The Columbian mammoth is on track to become the official state fossil of South Carolina, with no mention of its appearance on the Sixth Day of Creation.
As NCSE previously reported, after the South Carolina House passed House Bill 4482 in February 2014, the Senate amended it to add "as created on the Sixth Day with the other beasts of the field" after each instance of "mammoth."
When the House rejected the Senate's amendment in April 2014, the bill proceeded to a conference committee, whose six members included four legislators who already voted for the "Sixth Day" version of the bill.
Yet the committee prepared a new version of the bill that omits any reference to the Sixth Day of Creation, simply stating:
Whereas, giant mammoths used to roam South Carolina; and
Whereas, scientists have identified the fossils of about six hundred and fifty species of vertebrates in South Carolina to date; and
Whereas, it has been recognized that fossilized mammoth teeth were discovered in a swamp in South Carolina in 1725; and
Whereas, this discovery has been credited as the first scientific identification of a North American vertebrate fossil. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 1, Title 1 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 1-1-691. The Columbian Mammoth is designated as the official State Fossil of South Carolina."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
The amended version of HB 4482 was passed on a 98-0 vote in the House on May 8, 2014 and passed on a 32-3 vote in the Senate on May 13, 2014; it now presumably proceeds to the governor for her signature.
Revised on May 15, 2014, to update the final sentence.