Urge your state rep. to vote YES on HB 301 to make English the official language of Texas!

Updated action alert 5/3/2011

Last Thursday, the House State Affairs Committee approved HB 301 by a vote of 7 to 3. The next stop for the bill will be the Texas House floor for an up-or-down vote!

We had previously alerted you that the committee was considering HB 176, which would have simply amended the Texas state code to make English the official language.  However, the committee chose instead to advance HB 301, which would also make English the official language of Texas.  The Texas legislature has had several official English bills introduced this session.
 

TAKE ACTION!

 
HB 301 is a strong bill that not only provides for official English, but it provides some enforcement guidelines as well.

Despite opponents’ strongest attempts to convince voters otherwise, Texans can feel confident that HB 301 is consistent with the U.S. Constitution.  In 1988, a state employee challenged Arizona's newly enacted Official English initiative claiming that she had a First Amendment right to speak any language on the job. A federal judge agreed and overturned it.  When the State of Arizona refused to appeal, ProEnglish Chairman Bob Park intervened to defend the constitutionality of the official English initiative. After a long series of appeals over the trial judge's ruling that the initiative violated the First Amendment, Mr. Park and Arizonans for Official English prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding the right of states to have official English laws (Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona (1997).

NOW is the time to keep those phone calls, emails, and letters flowing into your state rep.’s office!
 

TAKE ACTION!

 
The Texas legislative session lasts no more than 140 days total, ending during the last week of May or the first week of June, so the clock is ticking!

Our goal is for the Texas House to bring HB 301 to a vote so the State Senate has ample time to consider and vote on the bill.

Call, email, and write to your state rep. NOW and tell him to VOTE YES on HB 301 when it goes to the House floor!

Call:

Texas House Member Phone Directory

Write:

Capitol Mailing Address:

(State Rep. Name)

(Room/office number, directory here)

P.O. Box 2910

Austin, Texas 78768-2910

or

Browse this directory for your House Member’s mailing address

Email:

Click through on “Take Action” above to send an email to your Rep. directly from this alert.

ALSO: It wouldn’t hurt to contact House Speaker Joe Straus’ office to urge him to quickly bring this bill to the floor!

Speaker’ s Capitol Address:

Room CAP 2W.13, Capitol
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
(512) 463-1000
(512) 463-0675 Fax

Speaker’s District Address:

7373 Broadway,
Suite 202-A
San Antonio, TX 78209
(210) 828-4411
(210) 832-9994 Fax

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