D.C. Language Access Bill A Terrible Idea

Proposed legislation would cost over $7 million

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. ENGLISH strongly opposes a proposed bill that would require translators in all Washington D.C. city agencies and create a citywide coordinator to ensure that residents who are not proficient in English are provided access to services. City officials estimate the program would cost $7.74 million to implement through 2006.

Advocates of the D.C. Language Access Bill cite particular horror stories to make their case for a multilingual city government:

• A Vietnamese woman waited six years to get subsidized housing only to lose it because by the time she found someone to translate the official notice, the deadline had passed.

• A Sudanese man was turned away by the Department of Motor Vehicles because of language difficulties.

• A Mexican woman could not get Spanish-language information about special education services for her children.

“These are all unfortunate incidents but the way to prevent things like this from happening again is to have immigrants learn English as quickly as possible,” said Mauro Mujica, Chairman and CEO of U.S. ENGLISH. “Instead of catering to each and every language group, Washington D.C. should follow the lead of 27 states and declare English the official language of city government. The money they save from implementing this common sense policy could then be used to provide more English classes for immigrants, rather than providing translators.”

At a time of belt tightening, this legislation is an expense that the D.C. government cannot afford. “Multilingualism in government is not cheap, as other states and localities have discovered. There are hundreds of languages spoken in the D.C. area. Is the city going to provide translators for each language at every city agency?” asked Mujica. “In addition, this legislation would send the wrong message to immigrants. In effect, it is saying ‘You can live in our city for six years and not bother to learn our language because we will cater to you.’”

With so much diversity the nation’s capital needs to ensure some unity. U.S. ENGLISH urges the D.C. government to reject the Language Access Bill and to consider official English legislation to unite all district residents around a common tongue.

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.