photo: DIS

Renegade GOPers Sabotage Official English Bill

Insider Advantage Georgia

by Phil Kent | Mar 1, 2018

Capitol sources indicate that state Sens. P.K. Martin, R-Lawrenceville, and Renee Unterman, R-Buford, kept complaining to the GOP Senate caucus leadership that they would be hurt in their districts if they supported a constitutional amendment by Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, and 30-plus co-sponsors to designate English as the official language of government operations. This caused Senate leaders to back away from holding even an up-or-down floor vote on the amendment.

The measure passed the state Senate with a two-thirds vote in 2016 but observers say reluctance by the two Republicans and the loss of former Sen. Hunter Hill’s district to a liberal Democrat soured passage chances for this year.

The amendment, subject to ratification by a statewide referendum if passed by the legislature, would provide “that official state actions be in English” and “prohibit … any language other than English be used in any documents, regulations, orders, transactions, proceedings, meetings, programs or publications” as well as “prohibit discrimination, penalties or other limits on participation against persons who speak only English.”

“Georgia has an official English-in-government statute but it contains loopholes that would be closed with this amendment,” says Stephen Guschov, executive director of the Washington-based ProEnglish organization. “For example, the Georgia Department of Driver Services administers the permanent resident driver’s license test in 11 foreign languages. That ought to end because it undermines public safety, since all road signage is in English.”

“There are also common-sense exceptions for the state and its political subdivisions. They include the teaching of languages other than English, the promotion of diplomacy, trade, commerce and tourism with other languages, the protection of the rights of crime victims and criminal defendants if other language usage is required and continued use of terms and phrases from other languages that are commonly used,” Guschov noted. “Perhaps Senators Martin and Unterman didn’t read that section.”   Here.