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A key House subcommittee Thursday struck down a proposal that would have asked voters to change the Georgia Constitution to make English the state’s official language.
While lawmakers passed legislation designating English as Georgia's official language two decades ago, writing that mandate into the state constitution — as proposed by Senate Resolution 675 — would make it more difficult for future legislators to repeal it.
Not that anyone has proposed that since the original official language bill passed in the mid-1990s.
"Obviously, having more citizens proficient in English enables the full economic and civic participation," said the resolution's sponsor, state Sen. Joshua McKoon, R-Columbus. "We firmly find that proficiency in English should be encouraged."
McKoon said Georgia is one of 32 states that currently designate English as its official language. Eleven of those states have amended their constitutions to make English their official language.
The state Senate's Democrats opposed the resolution and called it discriminatory because it would prohibit government publications from being printed in languages other than English. Opponents of the legislation said the state's driver's license test would be administered only in English.
“We are a state without very much public transit, and automobiles are really the way people get around,” said David Schaeffer, the director of policy and advocacy at the Latin American Association of Atlanta. “Immigrants occupy a large pool of those people who are going to need to get around, and some of them are not going to be able to speak English well enough to take the driver’s license exam.”
While McKoon said the resolution would not "prohibit the use of other languages in private communications," legislation like his measure has drawn opposition from about 200 ethnic business groups, churches and other organizations.
SB 6, also sponsored by McKoon, would create special driver’s licenses and ID cards that more clearly identify immigrants without legal status. The new cards would be issued to immigrants who have received temporary deportation deferrals and would carry the label: “No lawful status.” The cards now issued to deferred-action recipients say “limited-term.”
“What is the message that we are going to give to the people in the world?” Shah said. “We will be telling the rest of the world that Georgia doesn’t need immigrants — that Georgia doesn’t need the businesses of immigrants.”
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