Blog Archives

October 2010 - January 2010

U.S. English, Director of Government Relations, Tim Schultz, sat down recently with the BBC to discuss the Official English movement in America. Schultz discusses the growing prevalence of Spanish as well as the importance of encouraging immigrants to adopt English.

After passing the U.S. House of Representatives, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act (H.R. 2499) is up for consideration in the Senate

A new poll by the University of Texas/Texas Tribune shows that almost seven-in-ten Texans would support amending the state constitution to make English the official language of the Lone Star State.

Puerto Rico draws closer to statehood

Many state legislatures have returned to session, including several where official English related measures have been introduced. As of Feb. 1, legislators in 16 states have introduced bills to make English the official language of the state or reduce government multilingualism.

Tennessee Senator Bill Ketron has introduced legislation that would require all prospective motorists in Tennessee to take the driver’s license exam in English, making the roads safer and saving taxpayer money. Under S.B. 2660, all written examinations would be in English, tying the privilege of driving with the societal expectation that non-English speakers are on the road to learning English.

A New Haven business owner has asked his employees to speak English while in front of customers. Tim Schultz, U.S. English Director of Government Relations discusses this recent news story.

Four legislators introduced a measure to make English the official language of West Virginia last week, improving the potential for passage of official English legislation in several states this year. Delegates Lynwood Ireland, Bill Hamilton, William Romine and Carol Miller have proposed H.B. 2106, which would declare English as the official language of the state and clarify that state agencies are not required to provide information in languages other than English, except where required by existing law.

Florida representative Jeff Miller became the newest co-sponsor of H.R. 997 yesterday, increasing the number of co-sponsors of legislation to make English the official language to 131.