A resolution asking voters to require English be the official language of all official government functions is moving through the process that would land it on the ballot.

Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18, the sponsor of HCR2030, said the resolution is needed to reinforce the state Constitution, which already declares English the state’s official language.

“I’m not asking anybody to give up their culture, I’m not asking anybody to give up their language. What I am saying is it’s time to stand up for America,” he said. “You’ve come to America, you speak English – that is how you benefit.”

Opponents see the measure as fundamentally similar to a 1998 voter-approved measure that was deemed unconstitutional for being too restrictive.

“You can dress up this any way you want to dress it up…” Rep. Ben Miranda, D-16, said during the March 8 Committee of the Whole. “It will not be constitutional, folks.”

HCR 2030 is awaiting final vote in the House.

Meanwhile, the Senate on March 10 was scheduled to third read S1364, which creates in statute a provision that English is the official language of the state.

Rep. Pearce: ‘Time To Rein Things Back’

Mr. Pearce said immigration has never been higher than it is now and non-English-speaking immigrants are “overwhelming” the United States and expecting this country to change for them. It’s high time, he says, that America stand up for itself and its culture.

“They come here from another country and demand that we have to do things in their language and change our culture to their culture,” he said. “We have teachers being threatened that if they don’t learn Spanish they’re not going to be able to teach in a school in the United States.

“Things are going too far and it’s time to rein things back.”

Rep. Tom Prezelski, D-29, tried to amend the bill to allow Spanish to be used by public agencies. A similar provision is already in the bill to do so for Native American languages.

Mr. Prezelski argued that Spanish is just as native to Arizona as the languages spoken by the tribes, two of which communicate nearly as much in Spanish as they do in their tribal languages. Further, he said, Spanish was a vital part of communication when Arizona became a state.

“To say that somehow Spanish is not American…I think is not consistent with our values, not consistent with our history, not consistent with our heritage,” he said.

The floor amendment offered by Mr. Prezelski failed.

Critics of HCR 2030 also opposed a successful Pearce floor amendment that makes English the official language of the ballot.

“If I went to Mexico and was eligible to vote there, I would be required to vote the ballot in Spanish,” Mr. Pearce said during COW.

At least one member of the opposition said the amendment might ultimately be the resolution’s undoing.

“I’m almost tempted to support it,” Minority Whip Pete Rios, D-23, said, “because it would clearly render this bill unconstitutional.”

Voting Rights Act

Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-13, said the amendment violates the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act, which ensures that all voters have the opportunity to vote. By requiring that ballots and election materials only be printed in English, he said non-English-speaking voters would be disenfranchised, rendering the resolution unconstitutional.

However, Mr. Pearce said he doesn’t think the amendment will endanger the constitutionality of the resolution, though he acknowledged there is considerable debate on the issue. He said he is working with attorneys to make sure the Constitution is not violated and will change the resolution, if necessary, in the Senate.

Opponents charged that the resolution was driven by a frustration toward immigrants that has increased in recent years. Mr. Gallardo said the resolution does not include any provisions to get to the core issue: the fact that many don’t know how to speak English.

“This particular HCR does nothing to help one person learn to speak one word of English,” he said, adding that it is offensive to those who don’t speak English because it says they are not trying hard enough to learn the language.

Mr. Miranda said he would rather see legislation that increased the access to English as second language classes, many of which have waiting lists more than a year long. He also said Arizona would join the only other nation in the world to declare one official language – Nazi Germany.

“We will become a state that will join a country with that kind of history,” he said.

Mr. Pearce said recent polls indicate that Americans – both those born here and those naturalized – strongly support naming English as the official language at a national level. It is the fault of “politicians and the elite” for continuing “to pander and not do their job” by proposing a national measure.

Mr. Rios, who said it accomplishes nothing, called the issue “divisive.” Mr. Pearce refuted that stance.

“The same people who clamor that this is divisive are the same people that don’t understand the rule of law and don’t respect the rule of law. They’re the same people that continue to think that the rule of law is divisive,” Mr. Pearce said. “The only divisiveness in this issue is those that don’t understand this [American] culture and what’s good for everybody.” —