Committee holds public hearing to rename Joel Pritchard State Library as Joel Pritchard Building

The House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations on Friday held a public hearing on House Concurrent Resolution 4403, which would rename the Joel Pritchard State Library to the Joel Pritchard Building. Committee counsel Connor Schiff summarized the resolution and said the Department of Enterprise Services is directed to place the new name on the building.

The resolution reflects that the building on the Capitol Campus at 415 15th Avenue Southwest housed the state library from 1958 to February 2001 and has been used since 2001 by the House of Representatives and support staff, Connor Schiff, counsel to the committee, said.

Representative Rhett Tharinger, the bill’s prime sponsor, told the committee the building is being remodeled and “there’s no longer a library there. So we wanna remove that from the name of the building.” Tharinger also said an amendment is expected to separate language about an office addition on the east side of the building from the renaming language.

There were light comments from other members, including a brief exchange about honoring Joel Pritchard’s association with pickleball; Representative Dolio asked about the “significance of the paddle.” Tharinger said, in part, “I think Joe Pritchard is considered the originator of pickleball, which is now a state sport and a national phenomenon.”

No members of the public testified on the resolution. The committee closed the public hearing on HCR 4403 and did not take a committee vote during the hearing.

The matter will proceed according to the committee’s legislative process; staff indicated an amendment is forthcoming to address related construction language.