From US English

From US English [an organization that works to pass legislation for English Only, founded by Senator Hayakawa of California (Rep.)] 

Declaring English the official language means that official government business at all levels must be conducted solely in English. This includes all public documents, records, legislation and regulations, as well as hearings, official ceremonies and public meetings.

Official English legislation contains common-sense exceptions permitting the use of languages other than English for such things as public health and safety services, judicial proceedings (although actual trials would be conducted in English), foreign language instruction and the promotion of tourism.

In 1996, U.S.ENGLISH was instrumental in passing H.R. 123, "The Bill Emerson English Language Empowerment Act of 1996." That bill, making English the official language of the U.S. government, passed in the House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote of 259-169. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act on the bill before the end of the session. Currently, U.S.ENGLISH is working with Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia and Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama to help pass official English bills in the 106^th Congress.

Twenty-five states have some form of official English law. Most recently, Missouri and Alaska passed official English legislation in 1998. U.S.ENGLISH is currently working in several states to pass official English bills.

·         According to the 1990 Census, 329 different languages are spoken in the United States today including English; however, 97 percent of Americans speak English "well" or "very well." (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

·         A study published by the U.S. Department of Labor, (Monthly Labor Review, December 1992) shows that immigrants learn English more rapidly when there is less native-language support around them.

·         Based on 1980 and 1990 Census data on the increase in the population of those whose English-speaking ability was classified "not well" or "not at all," if the current trend continues, by the year 2050 there will be over 21 million people unable to speak English in the United States, making up 5.75 percent of the entire population. (Based on U.S. Census Bureau, 1980, 1990)

·         From 1980 to 1990, Canada's dual-language requirement cost a minimum of $6.7 billion. Canada is one-tenth the population of the United States and spent that amount accommodating only two languages. A similar dual-language policy would cost the United States more than $60 billion over 10 years. Depending on the exact number of languages accommodated of the total 329, these Canadian calculations take the price tag of official multilingualism in the United States up to $10 billion per year, $100 billion over 10 years. (Source: Annual Report of the Canadian Commissioner of Official Languages)

·         In 1994, the IRS printed and distributed 500,000 copies of 1040 forms and instruction booklets in Spanish and manned an 800-number hotline with Spanish-speakers. Of the half-million forms distributed, only 718 were returned. The total cost of the Spanish forms was $113,000, bringing the cost of each completed form to $157. The IRS is considering expanding this service to other languages. (Source: Internal Revenue Service)

·         In July 1993, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) conducted a U.S. citizenship swearing-in ceremony almost entirely in Spanish. (Source: INS, various news sources)

·         California offers drivers license exams in 30 different languages, New York in 23 and Michigan in 20. In all, 38 states currently offer the exam in languages other than English. (Source: Dept. of Motor Vehicles in all 50 states)

·         Beginning in 1997, high school students in New York may take their Regents exams, except the English test, in a foreign language. After the tests are prepared in English, they will be translated into as many languages as officials deem necessary, including Spanish, Creole and Chinese. (Source: New York Post)

·         The Los Angeles City Council prints all its public notices in six foreign languages in addition to English, doubling its annual budget to $1 million. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

·         The city of Los Angeles spent $900,000 to print bilingual ballots in six foreign languages for the 1993 special mayoral election. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

·         A report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) revealed that the federal government fails to track documents printed in other languages. The Government Printing Office (GPO) shows that from 1990-94, the GPO printed 265 different foreign-language publications for various government agencies. Since each government agency can print documents without going through the Government Printing Office, this is only a partial figure for the number of multilingual federal documents. (Source: General Accounting Office)

·         The U.S. Postal Service has printed one million brochures designed to help clerks communicate with customers in nine languages which will be distributed nationwide. (Source: Federal Times, 2/19/96)

·         A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) housing inspector who spoke only broken English was sent to Germantown, New York with an interpreter to inspect flood damage. The inspector couldn't speak English well enough to understand the flood victims' needs. (Register Star, 2/13/96)

·         The Selective Service System developed a Spanish-language comic book, "Las Aventuras de Carmelo," to reach young Hispanic males with information about registering for the draft. About 20,000 copies of the book are distributed free monthly throughout the Washington, DC area. (Source: Washington Post, 3/6/95)

·         The Social Security Administration is hiring more bilingual staff in an effort to "dramatically reduce reliance on middlemen in developing claims of non-English-speaking applicants." (Source: Washington Times, 9/4/95)