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TN House takes first steps to pass English bill

NEWS FLASH


TN House takes first steps to pass English bill
Tell your state rep. to support HB 454!

Take Action!
April 4, 2011
 

Tomorrow, the Tennessee House Transportation Subcommittee will hear testimony regarding HB 454, a bill sponsored by Rep. Sheila Butt (R-Columbia) that require that driver’s license written examinations be given in no languages other than English.

 
Efforts to proceed with a committee hearing on the Senate counterpart legislation, SB 10, continue to be delayed, so Rep. Butt has decided to move ahead with her legislation in the House.
 
 
 
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 representative so he knows that his constituents support HB 454.
 
Tell him that this legislation is long overdue and that you want him to vote YES when the bill goes to the House floor!
 
(615) 741-1934
 
If your state rep. sits on the Transportation Subcommittee (members below) which will convene tomorrow, April 5th at 12 noon, call and tell him to vote YES on HB 454! (click on the links below for phone numbers and emails)
 
Vince Dean, Chair
Terri Lynn Weaver, Vice-Chair
 
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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