<div dir="ltr">Georgia lawmakers prepare to debate whether English-only policy would help or hurt state<div id="gmail-story-header">
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<div id="gmail-story-body-items"><div class="gmail-byline element-spacing-small"><p><span class="gmail-ng_byline_name">By Maggie Lee</span></p><p><span class="gmail-ng_byline_email">
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Janury 25, 2018 05:31 PM
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<span id="gmail-update_date">Updated January 25, 2018 08:43 PM</span>
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<p>Some of Georgia’s state
senators want to ask the public to declare English Georgia’s official
language, and they want noncitizen driver’s licenses to be printed
vertically. Their reasons include saving money and avoiding errors. But
they face opposition from lawmakers and activists who say those ideas
remove the welcome mat from a state that's trying to attract new
businesses.</p>
<p>Folks can now take the
Georgia driver’s license written test in any one of several languages,
and that’s one of the things that would be switched to English-only, if
the Legislature and voters agree to <a href="http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20172018/SR/587" target="_blank">Senate Resolution 587</a> by state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus. </p>
<p>“When you have the state
administering our driver's license examination in 11 different
languages, when you have repeated calls for accommodations to be made in
a wide array of government communications, there’s an expense
associated with that,” McKoon said.</p><div class="gmail-teads-inread gmail-sm-screen" style="margin:0px auto 25px;max-width:550px;height:357px"><div style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-label" style="display:block">ADVERTISING</div><div class="gmail-teads-player" id="gmail-teads0"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits" style="display:block"><a href="http://inread-experience.teads.tv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits-colored">inRead</span> invented by Teads</a></div></div></div>
<p>His idea is to set up a
statewide vote on changing the state constitution so that official
Georgia uses English, except in limited circumstances like
communications with victims who speak little or no English.</p>
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<p>McKoon said Georgia’s
existing official English law has too many “loopholes” and doesn’t have
as much force as a constitutional amendment.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20172018/Sb/161" target="_blank">Senate Bill 161</a>,
state Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, wants noncitizen ID cards — like
driver's licenses — to be oriented vertically, a prominent difference
that he said will be helpful to folks who might not know the ways of the
U.S. well. </p>
<p>“Imagine putting
yourself in another country. You don’t know all the laws and customs
there. I’d like for somebody to say, ‘Hey let me help you out,’” he
said. Ginn said he wants people carrying the card to be given the
“benefit of the doubt” when appropriate. </p>
<p>For example, he said he
was once rear-ended by a student who carried a license marked
“limited-term,” meaning the holder wasn’t a citizen. Ginn said he sent
the young man on his way and didn’t call the police. </p>
<p>But he also wants the ID
to draw a bright line at polling places, cutting down on the chance
that noncitizens could be handed a ballot. </p>
<p>But both those bills,
plus another that adds a fee to money transfers, amount to an “adios
Amazon” agenda that could make the online shopping giant bypass Georgia
in its search for a second headquarters location, according to immigrant
and civil rights activists who held a state Capitol press conference on
Thursday.</p>
<p>Maria Del Rosario
Palacios is with the Georgia Alliance of Latino Elected Officials, a
nonprofit that looks to increase Latino and Hispanic civic participation
and leadership. She pointed out that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos just donated
$33 million in scholarship money to young people who were illegally
brought to the U.S. as children and are now without permanent permission
to stay. </p>
<p>Bezos’ announcement
points out that his own adoptive stepfather came to the U.S. from Cuba
at the age of 16 without speaking any English.</p>
<p>"Imagine if the stepfather of the CEO of Amazon was in today’s state of Georgia, with an English-only bill,” said Palacios. </p>
<p>McKoon rejected the idea
that his bill could spook Amazon. He said companies decide where they
will build based on taxes, regulations, workforce, infrastructure and
tax incentives, and not an English-language policy. </p>
<p>But state Rep. Pedro Marin, D-Duluth, said he’d put the tagline “here we go again” on bills like McKoon's.</p>
<p>Marin said as long ago
as 2006, he was on the state House floor arguing against an English-only
proposal. He said his own wife took the written driver's license test
in Spanish. </p>
<p>“And what happened? She
became a productive person in the state of Georgia. She could drive, she
could work, she could go to school,” Marin said. </p>
<p>McKoon's bill was given
preliminary approval by the state Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday.
It could appear for a full Senate floor vote as early as Tuesday.</p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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