The Texas House on Friday gave near-unanimous support to a trio of proposals to designate state-specific hashtags. 

The measures would make #txlege the official hashtag of the Legislature, #Texas the official hashtag of the state and #TexasToDo the official hashtag of Texas tourism.

Rep. Kenneth Sheets, R-Dallas, has pitched the hashtags as a way of promoting the state’s online presence. Hashtags are labels for different topics discussed on social media, most prominently Twitter. 

A few members opposed each measure. One of them, Rep. Matt Rinaldi, took to Twitter to explain his vote in hashtag form. 

“#WasteOfTime #txlege” the Irving Republican wrote, later telling another Twitter user, “More important things are still pending.”

The measures now head to the Senate.

Shortly before passing the hashtag proposals, the House approved another measure addressing Texas pride: a resolution designating the cowboy hat the official hat of the state.

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Patrick Svitek was the primary political correspondent for The Texas Tribune. Patrick covered elections, state leaders, the Legislature and political trends across the state from 2015 until 2024. He previously...