(The Center Square) – The Texas Senate passed a bill to change the terminology used in statute, resolutions, rules and other state publications to replace “Gulf of Mexico” with the “Gulf of America.”
State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, filed SB 1717, to make the change, saying he was “proud to represent a portion of the Gulf Coast” already referred to as the Gulf of America as directed through executive order by President Donald Trump.
On his second day in office, Trump issued an executive order, “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness,” directing federal agencies to rename two geographic locations, Mount McKinley and the Gulf of America, The Center Square reported.
The order directed federal agencies to take appropriate actions to rename the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded by the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba as the Gulf of America.
The largest gulf in the world spans 350 miles of Texas’ coastal bend from Orange to Port Isabel. Nationwide, it spans more than 1,700 miles across five gulf states, covering nearly 160 million acres.
“Its natural resources and wildlife remain central to America’s economy,” Trump’s order states. It’s one of “the most prodigious oil and gas regions in the world,” accounting for roughly 14% of U.S. crude oil production as well as natural gas—with exports led by Texas and Louisiana.
Middleton said it was “time for Texas to follow suit in officially recognizing this executive order and federal action by enshrining the new name in our state statute as the ‘Gulf of America.’”
The bill states that “The legislature finds that language used in reference to the partially landlocked body of water on the southeastern periphery of the North American continent, commonly referred to as the ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ is inaccurate and outdated. It is the intent of the legislature to establish preferred terminology for new and revised laws by requiring the use of language that accurately describes this geographic feature.”
It requires state code to use of “Gulf of America;” and directs the Texas Legislative Council to change statutory language to Gulf of America “in any existing statute or resolution as sections that use that term are otherwise amended by law.”
It also directs state agencies and commissions to make recommendations on what statutes and regulations need to be changed and requires the heads of state agencies to use Gulf of America.
The 128-page bill identifies state agencies to make the changes and identifies more than 100 pages of state documents to be changed.
Senate Democrats objected to the bill, arguing it’s political. The bill passed in the Republican-controlled Senate by a vote of 20-11 along party lines.
It has been referred to the Texas House Committee on State Affairs chaired by state Rep. Ken King, R–Canadian.
