(JUNEAU) - The House approved a bill today that would add a second verse to the official Alaska state song. As the original first verse celebrates the state flag, the new verse in House Bill 45, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch (R-Juneau), will celebrate the state's diversity of cultures.

"I think this is a fundamental issue about celebrating who we are culturally," Weyhrauch said. "We do things as legislators for symbolic as well as substantive reasons, and this is an important symbolic step we take today."

HB 45 passed the House by a vote of 29 to 7 and now moves to the Senate. The original state song, "Alaska's Flag," was written by Marie Drake and adopted as the official state song 1956. Carol Beery Davis wrote the second verse and gifted the words to the University of Alaska Foundation in 1987. The words to the second verse are as follows:

"It's a verse that has grown into fruition and maturity now to be adopted as a second verse of the Alaska Flag Song," Weyhrauch said. "And it reflects a similar process that we've gone through in our state of celebrating our diversity, our cultures, our growth and our people."

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02-05-03: Representative Bruce Weyhrauch explains why the House should approve of a second verse to the Alaska state song.

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Bruce Weyhrauch 28 K

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Bruce Weyhrauch 190 K