Proposed Bill Would Prohibit Use Of State Funds To Print Material In Any Language Other Than English
Vince Leibowitz | Nov 12, 2008 | Comments 5
A bill in anticipation of the start of the 81st Session of the Texas Legislature in January would prohibit the use of public funds to print most government documents–including material relating to elections and voter registration–in any language other than English.
HB 81, filed by State Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) is one of many anti-immigrant pieces of legislation expected to be considered by the Texas Legislature when it convenes next year.
The bill bans any state agency to use public funds to print a public document in a language other than English unless a federal law requires that the document be printed in other languages. The bill also strikes an entire chapter in the Texas Election Code that includes requirements that ballots and election materials be printed in Spanish in any precinct in a county where five percent or more inhabitants are of Spanish origin. The section of the Election Code requiring bilingual election clerks in certain areas would also be repealed by the bill.
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Vince, looks like the link to the bill isn’t working.
I fixed it. Somehow, there was a stray “\” at the end of the URL.
Can they actually do that? I was under the impression that the Federal Voting Rights Law governing elections supercedes State election law. Here’s a link concerning Voting Rights that was written in September 2008; http://www.abanet.org/vote/2008/VotingRightsArticle.pdf . It seems the law was somewhat changed concerning English Only Laws, but the Federal Law still mandates foreign language requirements. I think this bill they are trying to sell won’t hold up under the Federal Voting Rights laws.