W. Virgina Lawmakers Pass English Bill (moved from ATSNN)

During a legisative session for the state of W. Virgina, an amendment was inserted into an unrelated bill. It wasn't until days following the legislation period that this amendment was realized to have been passed. There had been previous attempts in the past decade or so to pass a similar bill. These attempts were unsuccessful.



Personally, it doesn't affect me. I am an english speaking Michigander. I do think that if you are going to come to the US to live you should be able to speak the language. However, the one thing I find disturbing is the fact that the bill was passed without knowledge of a majority of people. It is also a bill that has been shot down in the past and now seems to only have been passed by sneaking it into another bill.

Amending certain provisions into unrelated bills happens all the time in state and federal governments. I'm happy that English is being protected as our official language, since Spanish is making an insidious attack on our culture and language. If we don't take steps to protect our English heritage, soon people will find we can't get regular, everyday jobs without being bilingual. I applaud the effort undertaken by West Virginia.

/* edit: this is a bit ironic due to the story, but please fix your writing, especially the spelling of Virginia */

[edit on 4/12/2005 by djohnsto77]

Well, it just goes to show you lawmakers are frequently not reading what they are voting for. The simple fact that this happened should be an eye opener to everyone. There should be safeguards in place to prevent such occurances.

Looking at the history of this issue in this State I would expect an amendment will come to reverse it at some point, but the real problem is the fact that last minute amendments can be presented without one member of the governing body stopping and taking the time to read it.

What I find most unfortunate is the fact that any Bill at a State of Federal level can be adulterated with provisions that have nothing to do with the intent of the Bill. At the Federal level it is frightening the amount of unrelated items that are passed this way, or kill passing of an otherwise worthy Bill. Seems to me this could be so easily rectified but no one will do it because the opportunity for abuse is something everyone wants available to them.

I'm still confused as to what freaks everybody out about making English the national language? Do they see it as racist?

English is the official language of India AND South Africa! Those two nations were ruled by a foreign imperial power but still put their heads together and did what is best for their people by simplifying the bureaucracy by adapting a common language.

So far only California and now West Virginia have English as the official language. I don't care what the official language of my country is as long as it is standard. Having three languages on my passport is annoying and unnecessary.

Make it Esperanto if you have to!

djohnsto77

I agree. In Texas and many other states that have a large Hispanic population people can easily be passed over for a promotion and often not even hired because they are not bilinguel. Sounds like discrimination. But it's legal because of no official language.

If English was made the official language this would be illegal.

djohnsto77

I agree. In Texas and many other states that have a large Hispanic population people can easily be passed over for a promotion and often not even hired because they are not bilinguel. Sounds like discrimination. But it's legal because of no official language.

If English was made the official language this would be illegal.

The West Virginia Governor vetoed the bill. Yep, he is a Democrat.