Yesterday in the Missouri State House, the Transportation Committee, chaired by Rep. Charlie Denison (R-135th), approved HB 167 by a vote of 8 to 3.

 

HB 167, introduced by Rep. Jerry Nolte (R-33rd), would require that driver's license written (and the driving portion) exams are administered in no languages other than English. The bill also rightly prohibits the use of interpreters for any portion of the exam.

 

Even though Missouri's voters passed an amendment to the state constitution by a landslide vote of 86.3% in 2008 to make English the state's official language, Missouri continues to give driver's license exams in 11 languages other than English, including Bosnian, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

 

HB 167 will help to close this dangerous loophole in the official English law.