Ready Reference Files

California's Official State Tartan

On July 24, 2001, Governor Gray Davis signed into law Assembly Bill 614, which designated an offical state tartan for California. The tartan is called simply The California Offical State Tartan. The bill was introduced on the floor of the state Senate by Senator Bruce McPherson (District 15), himself of Scottish descent. The tartan honors the contributions of the 4.5 million residents who claim Scottish, Scottish-Irish or other Celtic ancestry.

J. Howard Standing, a Tarzana lawyer, was responsible for the design which is based on the tartan used by the family of John Muir, the state's most famous naturalist. There were however, some modifications to the original, so that the design would symbolize different aspects of California. The blue stands for the sky and sea, rivers and lakes. The green stands for mountains and fields. The red, gold and blue stand for the arts, sciences, agriculture and industry.

Sources:
San Francisco Chronicle, 7-28-01
www.scottish-tartans-society.org (visited 8/01)

Verified by: CM, 8-01

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