You asked whether (1) legislation has been proposed in Connecticut to make English the official language and (2) such legislation has been adopted by other states.

CONNECTICUT LEGISLATION

Legislation to make English the official language in Connecticut has been introduced repeatedly in the past ten years. Two bills were introduced in 2003, 2001, 1999, and 1995. Three bills were introduced in 1997. All of the bills were initially referred to the Government Administration and Elections (GAE) committee. The committee gave the 1995 bills a change of reference to the Education Committee, which took no action on them. GAE heard the 1997 bills, but took no further action on them. It took no action on the 1999, 2001, or 2003 bills.

LAWS IN OTHER STATES

According to U. S. English, advocates of laws making English the official language, 27 states currently have such laws. These states are listed in Table 1. In Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, and Nebraska the provision was adopted as a constitutional amendment. The text of most of these laws is available at (http: //www. proenglish. org/issues/offeng/states. html#az . In most of the states, the provision was adopted in the 1980s or 1990s. A 1997 Educational Resources Information Center webpage, http: //ericadr. piccard. csc. com/extra/ericdigests/ed406849. html, has historical information on “official English” initiatives at the state and federal level.

Table 1: States with English as the Official Language Laws

Arizona adopted an official language law, but the state Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

All of these laws designate English as the state’s official language (Hawaii also designates Hawaiian) and many require that official documents be in English. Some have additional provisions. For example, New Hampshire bars discrimination in public sector employment due to a person’s lack of knowledge of a foreign language, except when there is a bona fide need for this skill as part of the job (N. H. Rev. Stat. § 3-C: 3). Georgia allows state agencies and political subdivisions to use or to print official documents and forms in languages other than the official language. If a document filed or recorded with a state agency or political subdivision is in another language, an English translation of the document must be simultaneously filed (Ga. Code. § 50-3-100).

In contrast, New Mexico’s legislature adopted a resolution declaring that (1) proficiency in more than one language benefits the nation, (2) English needs no official legislation to support it, and (3) proficiency in other languages should be encouraged. Oregon and Washington have also passed resolutions encouraging native English speakers to learn a second language and non-native speakers to learn English.

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