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TN driver's license bill set for a vote!



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TN driver's license bill set for a vote!
Call your state senator today!

Take Action!
February 18, 2011
The Tennessee state senate has begun the new legislative session, and SB 10 has been placed at the top of the priority list!
 
SB 10 would require that driver's license written examinations are given in no languages other than English.
 
Next week, on Wednesday, February 23rd, SB 10 will head to the Senate Transportation Committee for a full hearing and a vote. Following the testimony, a committee vote will occur that day and then the legislation will be referred to the Senate Finance committee before reaching the Senate floor.
 
ProEnglish's own advisory board member, Eddie Garcia, will be testifying before the Senate committee in favor of SB 10 and urging all Senators to support it on the Senate floor.
 
 
Even though English has been the official language of Tennessee since 1984, the Tennessee DMV still allows driver's license written exams to be taken 3 languages other than English—Japanese, Korean, Spanish—despite the fact that all road signs are written exclusively in English.
 
Limiting driver's license tests to the English language is simply in keeping with the longstanding official English law of Tennessee.
 
It also is consistent with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations, which requires drivers engaged in interstate commerce to be able to:
  • Read or speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public.
  • Understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language.
  • Respond to official inquiries and to make entries on reports and records.
What is required of truck drivers to protect public safety in interstate commerce should be required to protect the safety of all Tennessee motorists as well!
 
 
Please begin calling and emailing your state senator so he knows that his constituents support SB 10 and that you want him to vote YES when the bill goes to the Senate floor!
If your state senator sits on the Transportation Committee (members below) which will convene on Wednesday, February 23rd, call and tell him to vote YES on SB 10!
 
Members of the Senate Transportation Committee:
 
Jim Tracy, Chair 615-741-1066
Steve Southerland, Vice-Chair 615-741-3851
Ken Yager, Secretary 615-741-1449
Tim Barnes 615-741-2374
Mae Beavers 615-741-2421
Andy Berke 615-741-6682
Dolores Gresham 615-741-2368
Douglas Henry 615-741-3291
Bill Ketron 615-741-6853
 
More resources:
ProEnglish Backgrounder: Why Drivers Must Know English
 
ProEnglish is a self-governing project of U.S., Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and the nation's leading advocate of official English. We work through the courts and in the court of public opinion to defend English's historic role as America's common, unifying language, and to persuade lawmakers to adopt English as the official language at all levels of government. You can make a tax-deductible donation here.

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ProEnglish is a self-governing project of U.S., Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
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