[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 739 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 739

    To amend title 4, United States Code, to declare English as the 
       official language of the Government of the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 2, 1993

Mr. Roth (for himself, Mr. Saxton, Mr. Packard, Mr. Baker of Louisiana, 
  Mr. Sisisky, Mr. Crane, Mr. Armey, Mr. Oxley, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. 
Hyde, and Mr. Herger) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 4, United States Code, to declare English as the 
       official language of the Government of the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Declaration of Official Language Act 
of 1993''.

SEC. 2. ENGLISH AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE.

    (a) In General.--Title 4, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new chapter:

                ``CHAPTER 6--LANGUAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT

``Sec.
``161. Declaration of official language.
``162. Preferred language of communication.
``163. Preserving and enhancing the role of the official language.
``164. Duties of citizenship.
``165. Reform of naturalization requirement.
``166. Exceptions.
``167. Preemption.
``168. Construction.
``Sec. 161. Declaration of official language
    ``English is the official language of the Government of the United 
States.
``Sec. 162. Preferred language of communication
    ``English is the preferred language of communication among citizens 
of the United States.
``Sec. 163. Preserving and enhancing the role of the official language
    ``The Government of the United States shall promote and support the 
use of English for communications among United States citizens. 
Communications by officers and employees of the Government of the 
United States with United States citizens shall be in English.
``Sec. 164. Duties of citizenship
    ``All United States citizens should be able to read, write, and 
speak English to the extent of their physical and mental abilities.
``Sec. 165. Reform of naturalization requirements
    ``The Immigration and Naturalization Service shall--
            ``(1) establish an English language proficiency standard 
        for all applicants for United States citizenship, and
            ``(2) establish a written and oral examination to test for 
        the achievement of such standard by such applicants.
``Sec. 166. Exceptions
    ``This chapter does not apply to the use of a language other than 
English for--
            ``(1) religious purposes, or
            ``(2) training in foreign languages for international 
        communication.
``Sec. 167. Preemption
    ``This chapter preempts any State or Federal law which is 
inconsistent with this chapter.
``Sec. 168. Construction
    ``This Act is not intended to affect programs in schools designed 
to encourage students to learn foreign languages.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of chapters for title 4, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``6. Language of the Government.............................     161''.

    (c) Repeals.--
            (1) Bilingual education.--Title VII of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 is repealed.
            (2) Bilingual ballot.--Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act 
        of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a) is repealed.

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