U.S.ENGLISH Taking the Initiative in States
Politicians Are Blocking Official English, But the People Will Have Final Say

Too many state politicians have been abusing their power in order to block official English legislation, despite the overwhelming support for such legislation among the people of their states. Now U.S.ENGLISH is fighting back.

After our efforts in the Alaska legislature were blocked, U.S.ENGLISH Chairman Mauro E. Mujica decided to bypass the politicians and take the matter directly to Alaskan voters. U.S.ENGLISH petition gatherers collected more than 31,000 signatures from all forty election districts in Alaska. So this November the people of Alaska will have the chance to vote on whether English should be the official language of their state.

In Utah, where our legislation was blocked at the last minute by the backroom dealings of a few key politicians, U.S.ENGLISH is now in the process of gathering over 36,000 signatures for a legislative initiative to make English the official language of Utah. The initiative will force the legislature to consider official English in 1999. If they fail to pass it, then U.S.ENGLISH will collect additional signatures to get it on the ballot in the year 2000.

In the near future, U.S.ENGLISH is planning to use the initiative process in other states, including Arizona, where the state Supreme Court recently struck down the official English law as overly restrictive. The Arizona Supreme Court did indicate that it might uphold a law modeled on some of the official English legislation U.S.ENGLISH has passed in Wyoming and South Dakota, which make English the official language while still protecting First Amendment rights.

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