Up State Initiatives 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. On November 3, 1998 the people of Alaska voted 68.57 percent in favor of making English the official language of their state. In Utah, the legislature refused to pass the official English initiative, so U.S.ENGLISH is now in the process of gathering 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. Top of Page U.S. ENGLISH, Inc. 1747 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 1050 Washington, D.C. 20006 © 2002, U.S. ENGLISH, Inc. ® All rights reserved. Tel: 202-833-0100 Fax: 202-833-0108 [email protected] Technology & Design by Gen-X Strategies Any citation of the material contained in this website must credit U.S.ENGLISH. No portion of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any way without the express permission of U.S.ENGLISH. Copyright violations will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.