The following information applies to the enclosed package in its entirety, ProEnglish is a project of U.S. U.S. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and as such, can expend only a specific portionof its overall resources on lobbying activities. While your contribution will not be earmarked for a specific campaign, its availability at this time will assist us in meeting all of our goals. A copyof our latest financial report may be obtained from either the Secretary of State of New York, Albany, NY 12231 or from U.S., 445 East Mitchell St., Petoskey, MI 49770-2623. The official registrationand financial information of U.S. may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll free, within Pennsylvania 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.West Virginia residents my obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305.

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Volume 17 - Number 2 July 2011

Attorney General to Small NY Town:“Rescind official English Law, or else!”

Jackson, NY – At the urging of theNew York Chapter of the AmericanCivil Liberties Union (ACLU), thesmall upstate New York town ofJackson (pop. 1700) was forced atits June 2, 2011 council meeting torescind its official English statuteafter being threatened with legalaction by New York AttorneyGeneral Eric Schneiderman.

The New York AttorneyGeneral’s office sent a letterordering the town of Jackson to“cease-and-desist” enforcement oftheir official English languageordinance in what his officeinflammatorily stated is “illegal”and “discriminatory.”

The Jackson Town Council voted4-1 last year to establishCouncilman Roger Meyer’sresolution establishing English asits official language. Thisordinance simply designatesEnglish to “be used in all officialmeetings and business.” Similarordinances have been defendedsuccessfully by ProEnglish whenchallenged by the ACLU and theirallies in court. High courts haveroutinely ruled official English

laws to be constitutional and notdiscriminatory.

According to the June 3rdBennington Banner, “In May,[Arlington, VA based advocacygroup] ProEnglish responded to theattorney general’s letter…chargingthat New York Attorney GeneralEric Schneiderman was abusing hisoffice by ‘politically oppressing andthreatening’ Jackson.”

“The town of Jackson has beenconducting its [official] governmentbusiness in English for nearly 200years,” said Dave Louden,executive director of ProEnglish.Louden cited national polls thatindicate the majority of Americanssupport official English laws, andsaid that the law addressed the“confusion of multilingualism” aswell as protected the town from the

cost of translators and “printingdocuments in various languages.”

Cities and small towns across thecountry have been threatened withlaw suits for exercising their right topass common sense official Englishordinances. The ACLU recentlysued Hazleton, PA for passing theirofficial English language ordinance.

ProEnglish immediately came tothe legal defense of Hazleton, PAby having their legal team at theSoutheastern Legal Foundationsubmit a legal brief citingProEnglish’s history of successfullydefending official English laws atall levels of government. Facingcertain defeat in court, the ACLUdropped this frivolous law suit.

The story of Jackson, NY isindicative of what supporters ofcommon sense official Englishmeasures face across the country.Opponents of citizen supportedmeasures to make English ourofficial language at all levels ofgovernments in America haverepeatedly sought to malign, attack,and pressure local officials who wishto make English the official languageof government in the United States.

Jackson Councilman Roger Meyer

2 July 2011

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There has been asurplus oflegislative activityin the states on theofficial Englishissue... The mostcommon Englishlegislationintroduced would

make English the sole testinglanguage for driver’s license exams.For the past decade, ProEnglish hasbeen the national leader warningstates that foreign-language driver’slicense tests threaten public safety byallowing non-English speaking driverson the road. Drivers who cannot readand understand English are a threat tothe safety of all motorists, includingthemselves. These drivers cannotunderstand traffic signs and directions,read highway warning signs or readhazard signs on other vehicles. Theyare also not able to communicate withpolice or public safety officials in theevent of an accident or otheremergency. Of course, English is theuniversal language of all U.S. roadsigns and roadways, so it is entirelyappropriate to require, at a minimum,English proficiency for all permanentresidents applying for a state driver’slicense.

Of all the driver’s exam legislationthat has been introduced in the statelegislatures this year, the strongestbill was introduced in Missouri bytwo longtime official Englishchampions, Rep. Jerry Nolte in theHouse and Sen. Brian Nieves in theSenate. In 2008, then-HouseRepresentative Nieves introduced theamendment to the state constitutionto make English the official languageof Missouri. Subsequently, theamendment was overwhelminglypassed by 86% of Missouri voters inthe November 2008 election.

Although Missouri became anofficial English state in 2008, itcontinues to give driver’s exams in11 foreign languages includingBosnian, Chinese, French, German,Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean,Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.Nolte and Nieves’ bill, HB 167,would have helped to close thisdangerous loophole in the law. Thebill would have simply required thatdriver’s written and skills exams beadministered in no languages otherthan English. The original versionalso banned the use of interpretersfor any portion of the exam, but itwas stripped by the Senate GeneralLaws Committee. “The bill allows

anyone seeking a driver’s license toeither take the test in written form orhave it read to them, as long as thetest is given in English. That willallow anyone who has troublereading English, whether a nativeEnglish speaker or not, to take thetest,” said Nolte. “We want to makesure everyone is treated equally,”Nolte said.

During the Senate committeehearing in April, Nieves counteredthe arguments of oppositionwitnesses by explaining that limitingdriver’s exams to the universallanguage of all U.S. roads, English,does not send an “unwelcoming”message to new immigrants. Heexplained, “The states are pickingwinners and losers.” Some statesmay offer the test in German,Arabic, or Farsi, whereas other statesdiscriminate against those languagesby choosing to accommodate others,such as Italian, Greek, and Hindi.Nieves explained that the currentsystem is discriminatory and thatthe only way to make it non-discriminatory is to offer the examin every language under the sun —which is unfeasible, expensive, anddangerous — or to limit the test to

The ProEnglish Advocate

BoardRosalie Porter, ChairwomanBob ParkCliff ColwellPhil KentK.C. McAlpinRosalie PorterJohn Tanton

Executive DirectorDave Louden

The ProEnglish Advocate is published quarterly by ProEnglish. ProEnglish is a non-profitmembership-based organization dedicated to educating the American people about theimportance of preserving English as our common language and making it the official languageof the U.S. All contributions to ProEnglish are tax-deductible.

1601 N. Kent Street, Suite 1100Arlington, Virginia 22209tel. (703) 816-8821 fax (571) 527-2813Website: www.proenglish.org

Permission is hereby granted to copy or distribute any or all of The ProEnglish Advocate.

Continued on page 6

Sen. Brian Nieves

Missouri will be the state to watch in 2012

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In the CourtsU.S. Senate confirms anti-Englishjudicial nomineeIn August 2009, President Barack Obamanominated Judge Edward Milton Chen to theU.S. District Court for the Northern District ofCalifornia. As the nation’s leading advocate ofestablishing English as the official language ofthe United States, ProEnglish sparred withPresident Obama on this nomination andbegan to have serious concerns as JudgeChen’s background began to unravel.

For 16 years, Chen worked as a Staff Attorneyand Member of the American Civil LibertiesUnion. During his time with the ACLU, Chenworked tirelessly to defeat official English laws.In 1986, Chen co-chaired the unsuccessfulCalifornians United Against Proposition 63, thestate’s initiative to amend the state constitutionand make English the official language ofCalifornia. In 1987, according to East Windmagazine, Chen co-authored an article thatclaimed that those associated with the officialEnglish movement were “anti-immigrant andxenophobic in character” and he told The NewYork Times that official English laws are “basedon false, xenophobic assumptions.” A few yearslater, in Garcia v. Spun Steak Co., Chenrepresented plaintiffs who challenged a privateemployer’s English-on-the-job policy, but heultimately lost his case before the Ninth Circuitfor failing to show that the policy had adiscriminatory impact.

In 1995, Chen testified before both the Senateand the House of Representatives in oppositionto legislation to make English the officiallanguage of the United States and inaccuratelyargued that it would violate the First

Amendment, claiming that such alaw was “unnecessary, patronizing,and divisive.” In 1998, Chen filed a lawsuitseeking to invalidate California’s Proposition227, which had just passed overwhelmingly by60% of California voters and required thatEnglish Learners in California schools betaught in English. This proposition was in-partwritten by ProEnglish Chairwoman RosaliePorter, an Italian immigrant and author of threebooks, including American Immigrant: My Lifein Three Languages.

Although Chen’s nomination was initially sentback to the White House one year after hewas nominated, President Obama defiantly re-nominated him in 2010. As Chen’s nominationlanguished, ProEnglish urged the Senate tooppose Chen’s confirmation by voting againsthim. Director of Government RelationsSuzanne Bibby explained ProEnglishopposition: “Edward Chen has spent over adecade propagating a mis-informationcampaign in the courts about official Englishlaws. For 16 years and counting, he has usedhis legal position with the ACLU to attempt todelute America’s long English languageheritage and worked to weaken the melting-pot tradition that is and always has beenrooted in assimilation and learning andpreserving our common tongue.”

Unfortunately on May 10, 2011, the Senatefinally brought Chen’s nomination to the floor foran up-or-down confirmation vote and approvedhim by a vote of 56 to 42. All Democrats votedin favor of Chen’s confirmation along with 4Republicans—Sens. Collins (ME), Snowe (ME),Brown (MA), and Murkowski (AK).

“For too long, the federal government has shirked its duty by not passing English as theofficial language of the United States..”

— Jackson, NY town councilman, Roger Meyer quotes in NY Times column on why his town originally made English its official language.

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4 July 2011

CongressMore English bills introduced in 112thCongressThe 112th Congress is underway and threeadditional English bills have been introducedby Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Peter King(R-NY). Although Rep. Steve King (R-IA) hasa popular bill, the English Language UnityAct, that would make English the officiallanguage of the United States, Rep. PeterKing has introduced a bill that would do thesame, but it contains an added feature; itwould also repeal multilingual voter ballots.

H.R. 1164, or the National Language Act,would repeal Section 203 of the Voting RightsAct of 1965. There are a number of reasonswhy H.R. 1164 should be passed by Congressand signed by the President. The U.S. is anEnglish-speaking country in which almost allcitizens speak, read, and understand theEnglish language. Since 1907, the UnitedStates has required immigrants to learnEnglish in order to naturalize and acquire therights of citizenship, including the right to votein federal elections. This is appropriate for anation whose constitution and foundingdocuments are written entirely in the Englishlanguage, so the federal government has nobusiness forcing state and local governmentsto print foreign-language ballots for citizenswho are already required to read andunderstand English. Not only are foreign-language ballots redundant and incrediblyexpensive—Cuyahoga County, OH spent over$80,000 alone printing Spanish-languageballots for the 2010 mid-term election—butthey facilitate voting by non-citizens, a violationof federal law. Foreign-language ballotsdebase the meaning of citizenship, encouragevoter fraud, and undermine the integrity of thenaturalization process by eliminating anincentive for immigrants to learn English.

“I am committed to reversing three decades ofmisguided policies that have divided ourcountry by encouraging new immigrants to use

their native languages at the expenseof English,” stated Rep. Peter Kingupon speaking about his bills. Justlast month, Rassmussen Reports released apoll that supported what King has been tellingus for so many years—that a majority of likelyvoters, 58%, favor repealing bilingual voterballots and making English the sole votinglanguage. This marks the second consecutiveyear that a decisive majority of American voterssupport eliminating the federal mandate toprovide foreign-language ballots.

In fact, King is so committed to the cause thathe introduced a second English bill, H.R.1307, that would repeal President BillClinton’s decade-old Executive Order (EO)13166 that mandates all federal governmentagencies and recipients of federal funds toprovide translations into any languagerequested. This Executive Order can berepealed by President Obama with the strokeof his pen or Congress can pass King’s bill todeclare it “null and void. Not only does thisregulation—which is not law and was neverapproved by Congress—put a tremendousburden on taxpayers, but it also divides thecountry by language and leaves immigrantsdependent on language translation services.The order directs federal funds recipients topay for the enormous cost of providingtranslation and interpreter services from theirown funds. There is no federalreimbursement and it covers tens ofthousands of state and local governmentagencies as well as government contractors.It affects schools, libraries, hospitals,unemployment offices, fire and policedepartments, public health clinics, andcountless private agencies that receive director indirect support from the federalgovernment. The order says that complianceis not limited to written translations, meaningthat oral interpreter services have to be madeavailable unless there were compelling

Continued

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July 2011 5

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Congress Continuedreasons not to do so. This means hiring tensof thousands of additional employees astranslators and interpreters. The order’s costto taxpayers at all levels of government couldeasily total tens of billions of dollars.

This brings us to Rep. Virginia Foxx’s (R-NC)H.R. 1715, the Multilingual ServicesAccounting Act, which would simply requirethe federal government to report how muchmoney it is spending each year on themultilingual services it’s providing because ofEO 13166. Virginia Foxx’s bill is thecompliment to Rep. King’s bill to repeal theExecutive Order. The purpose of Foxx’s bill isquite simple: Americans deserve to know howtheir money is being spent.

In 2009, the Fraser Institute released astudy that revealed that Canada, a countrywith roughly one-tenth the population ofthe United States, spent between $1.6billion and $1.8 billion in 2006 to providetaxpayer-funded government services inFrench and in English. In the U.S., over 300languages are spoken, so we can extrapolateAmerica’s cost to be ten times Canada’s.

ProEnglish believes that the burdento subsidize immigrants and non-English-speaking Americans whoavoid learning English should not fall onAmerican taxpayers. “The American peoplewant to know where their tax money is going.As a result, a growing number of states havepassed laws requiring their governmentagencies to account for spending onmultilingual services. The federal governmentshould follow this example,” stated Rep. Foxx.

Although EO 13166 requires federalagencies to ensure funds recipients arecompliant, the agencies themselves do notreport how much this unfunded mandatecosts federal funds recipients each year, soRep. Foxx introduced a bill that would forcethe federal government to be accountableand shed light on the true cost of its currentde facto unofficial multilingualism. Rep.Foxx’s bill would require the Office ofManagement and Budget (OMB) to includemultilingual services accounting informationin its report which is submitted to Congressby January 31 of each year.

In late March Dr. Steven Jonescontacted ProEnglish for advice ongood programs for non-Englishspeaking students in U. S. schools.Dr. Jones had decided to run for aposition on the School Board in hishome town of Irving, Texas. Histhree goals for improving the localschools: 1. Emphasize academicexcellence; 2. Hire more teachersand fewer administrators, and 3.replace the bilingual program with aserious English Immersion model.

ProEnglish enlisted Dr. RosaliePorter to the rescue. Porter gave

Jones solid arguments in favor ofEnglish language help to studentsfrom the day they enroll in school.Her work as a teacher, researcherand advisor confirms theseimportant points that Jones put togood use in his campaign:

• starting English at age 4 or 5gives children the best opportunityto speak and understand, and laterto read and write the language mosteffectively for school use

• bilingual programs using thestudents’ native language for a largepart of the school day for several

years segregates students from theirEnglish speaking classmates anddoes not lead to better learning ofschool subjects

In his appeal for votes, Jonesstated, “As your Trustee, I will doeverything in my power to makeEnglish the language of the IrvingIndependent School District andensure we give every student thenumber one tool to succeed in theUnited States of America—amastery of the English language.”

Bravo Steven Jones, andcongratulations on your election.

Texas Doctor Elected to Irving School BoardStrong Advocate for English Language Teaching

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6 July 2011

Around the WorldCanada Considers BilingualRequirement for Judges

To most Americans it comes as nosurprise that Canada officially

recognizes French and Englishas its language of

government. What may raisesome eyebrows is that French-speaking politicians have recently

introduced a bill (C-232) that would make itmandatory for future judges on the CanadianSupreme Court to be bilingual in both Frenchand English.

The Canadian Supreme Court is appointed bythe Prime Minister and presides over bothEnglish and smaller Francophone populationsgroups across Canada.

Proponents of the legislation contend that withtwo official languages of government thosesitting on the Supreme Court in Canada shouldhave a firm grasp of both English and Frenchin order to be effective jurists on the bench.

Critics have blasted the proposed bilingualrequirement for future Supreme Court justices,citing that the pool of qualified applicantswould be drastically reduced. According toJean-Pierre Corbeil, chief of languagestatistics for StatsCan, only 5.4 millionCanadians or 17% of the population claimfluency in both French and English, leavingapproximately 83% of the rest of Canadaineligible to serve on the high court.

As a result, many argue that the quality offuture judges on the bench could be

significantly lacking if theproposed legislation were enacted.

Canada has long had to deal with the expensiveand administrative ramifications behind being anofficially bilingual government. Now, with therecent controversy surrounding the proposedrequirements for Supreme Court justices, Canadawill have to deal with a new set of problems.

Teaching English is Big Business inChinaWhen President Richard Nixon visited China in1972 the English language was spoken verylittle and generally viewed with contempt as apotentially harmful and contaminating source ofinfluence from the West.

The times have changed.

In the past 30 years China experienced aneconomic and cultural revolution, transformingfrom a largely isolated rural agrarian culture toa mass producer of goods and technology anda driving force in the international community.

As a result, learning English has become a toppriority China. In 2011, the number of Chinesestudying English far exceeded the population ofthe United States. According to the ChinaEducation Daily, more than 400 millionChinese, or approximately a third of the totalpopulation, are studying English.

Consequently, teaching English in China hasbecome a thriving and lucrative businessinvolving foreign companies, private academies,

the one common language, English, so that certain immigrants’languages are not favored over others.

After passing the House easily by avote of 102 to 56 in March, HB 167moved to the Senate in April, wherethe Committee on General Lawsapproved the bill by a vote of 6 to 2.

When the legislative session startedto approach its final day, ProEnglishlearned that a group of Republicansenators vowed to filibuster if thedriver’s bill came to the floor vote afinal vote. Despite ProEnglish’s lastditch efforts to sway targetedsenators, the session ended without avote on HB 167. Unfortunately, a few

weak GOP lawmakers also killedgood English driver’s license bills inGeorgia and Tennessee.

Of all the bills in all of the statesthis year, HB 167 cleared the mostlegislative hurdles and sets up the2012 session as the perfect time to tryagain and finally pass this popular billduring a Presidential election year.

Missouri will be the state to watch in 2012 • Continued from page 2

Continued

July 2011 7

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Around the Worlduniversities from many English speakingcountries, and the Chinese government.

While rates vary depending on the region of China, according to a recent CNN report,English language teachers from abroad canoften expect to make between $1200 - $1800per month with many of their expenses, such as room and board, travel, and medicalcosts covered.

Similar to the narrative taking place acrossChina, Chen Lu, a 19-year-old junior atPeking University recently told CNN in thesame report, that learning English, “gives me an advantage in a very competitiveenvironment.”

English Requirement for Australian TaxiDriversAdelaide, Australia, is considered to be one ofthat country’s most beautiful cities. Located500 miles northwest of Melbourne alongAustralia’s southern coastline, Adelaide has apopulation of well over one million residentsand a thriving tourism industry. That’s why cityofficials have begun to take notice of a seriousissue facing the tourism and transportationindustry in the city.

According to recent report by theTransport Department of Australia,each year 49%, or fewer than half ofthose wishing to become taxi drivers inAdelaide, are able to pass the Englishlanguage test required for employment by taxi companies.

Despite the fact that anyone wishing to be a taxi driver in Adelaide must hold anAustralian driver’s license for six monthsbefore they can apply, one in four fail a road theory test and one in three fail adriving practical test specifically designed for taxi drivers.

Wally Sievers, the Taxi Council ExecutiveDirector of Adelaide, said the figures wereproof that new English proficiencyrequirements implemented in 2008 wereworking to weed out bad applicants.

The applicants are allowed to take the Englishlanguage test three times, with 86% eventuallypassing the requirement.

The taxi industry, according to Sievers, “is the gateway to the state, so it is incrediblyimportant that they speak English, know where to go and how to get there safely.”

ProEnglish NewsProEnglish names Dave Louden asexecutive director

In April the ProEnglish Board ofDirectors announced that DaveLouden of Arlington, Va., waspicked to succeed JayneCannava as executive director.

ProEnglish Board ChairmanDr. Rosalie Porter said, “Thatthe Board unanimously voted

to hire Mr. Louden is a tribute to his skills asa longtime political activist, campaign

strategist and legislative aide inCalifornia and Connecticut. It should alsobe noted that he also served with distinctionin the 1990s as a non-commissioned officerin the U.S. Marine Corps.”

Louden received his Bachelor of ArtsDegree in Political Science from UCLA in1997. He was also a founding member andchairman (2008-2010) for the RepublicanChiefs of Staff Association, a socialorganization comprised of senior GOPCalifornia Capitol staffers.

Dave Louden

8 July 2011

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In state after state legislatorswho hoped to pass bills makingEnglish the official language oftheir state or else strengthenofficial English laws already onthe books, have seen their hopesdashed because of opposition fromthe well heeled business lobbies,most often represented by theChamber of Commerce. TheChamber’s opposition was a majorfactor blocking legislation instates like Arkansas, Georgia,Tennessee, Montana, Oklahoma,and Indiana.

The question is “Why?” Polls consistently show anoverwhelming 80-85 percent of all Americans support English as the official language,including a majority of businessexecutives and majorities ofevery ethnic group.

The reasons include “politicalcorrectness” and pressure from U.S.based special interest groups. Butanother little known reason is thatU.S. multinationals are becomingless “American” every year as theyincreasingly shift work forces,products, sales, and profits overseas.A recent article in The Wall StreetJournal (“Big U.S. Firms ShiftHiring Abroad,” April 19) revealedthat almost a third of all USmultinationals’ employees are nowoverseas. And the trend isaccelerating. In 2000 for example,46 percent of GE employees workedabroad. Today that figure is 54percent. GE now does 60 percent ofits total business abroad comparedto just 30 percent in 2000. Financialgiant Citibank now gets 72 percentof its profit from overseasoperations. And the list goes on.

As a result U.S. multinationalsare increasingly sensitive to theperceptions and desires of foreigngovernments who can pressure U.S.companies that do business in theircountries to lobby on issues such asU.S. immigration policy. Althoughthe U.S. Chamber of Commerce hashundreds of thousands of smallbusiness members across thecountry, the dues that fundChamber operations are scaledaccording to size. That insures thatbig multinationals provide the lion’sshare of Chamber revenues and callthe shots on policy decisions at thestate and national level.

Despite opposition from bigbusiness interests, official Englishcontinues to make progress due tooverwhelming public support. Thenumber of states with officialEnglish laws now stands at 31.

Big business lobbies slow progress on English

"It gets down to the issue of picking winners and losers... We as a state have said, 'If you speak one of these 11 languages, we like you a whole lot better."

— Missouri State Senator Brian Nieves, whose parents immigrated from Puerto Rico, explains the reality of offering driver's license exams in multiple languages.

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