Officially, the Official State Crap Project has reached Indiana. Iowa would be the next. There is precedent for removing a state from order if the relevant legislative action is (a), imminent (b), stupid (c), or both.

New Mexico legislator William P. Soules presented Senate Bill 188 on January 23. If passed, it would make New Mexico the first state in the country to have an official state smell. Although there was some discussion about which state's aroma should be honored, consensus was reached to name New Mexico "the aroma from green chile roasting during the fall".

According to the Albuquerque Journal, grade-school students are (a) the culprits (b), heroes (c) scapegoats for proposing yet a new state symbol. When I saw that fifth-graders were allowed to suggest an official smell, and that it was chile-roasting I suspected that adult supervision (b), coercion (c), and inception was involved.

Soules, a retired teacher, is believed to have visited the class at Monte Vista Elementary. Soules tried to get them interested about the work of a legislature and asked them if they could name the official bird of the state. It was identified by a poindexter as the roadrunner. The discussion on official matters continued. Soules brought up the "scent of roasting chilile", and then "implored" the class, "Let's talk about making the scent of chile roasting our official smell for New Mexico. Could you all please help me? "Yes, they would.

Some fifth-graders spoke in support of the bill via an online platform at a hearing. One student asked, "Is there anybody in the room that doesn't know what chile roasting tastes like?" The committee voted 5-0 in favor of the bill. If it is adopted by the legislature and signed into law, it would take effect on June 16, 2023, just in time for the fall harvest and roasting of chiles, hopefully to be followed by a green-chile-aroma-inspired increase in tourism.

The Journal reported that some residents of New Mexico were upset by Steven Colbert’s joke last week about New Mexico's official smell being "an abandoned RV that a Bobcat is living in." But it doesn't seem like they were.