[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 739 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th 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

                            January 30, 1995

  Mr. Roth (for himself, Mr. Packard, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Bartlett of 
Maryland, Mr. Parker, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Coble, Mr. Archer, Mr. 
Callahan, Mr. Bunning of Kentucky, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Stump, Mr. Inglis 
  of South Carolina, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. 
 Hancock, Mr. Royce, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Ney, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Solomon, 
Mr. Kingston, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Oxley, and Mr. King) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Economic and 
                       Educational Opportunities

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 1995''.

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.
``169. Enforcement.
``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 encouraged to read, write, 
and speak English to the extent of their physical and mental abilities.
``Sec. 165. Reform of naturalization requirements
    ``(a) It has been the long-standing national belief that full 
citizenship in the United States requires fluency in English. English 
is the language of opportunity for all immigrants to take their 
rightful place in American society.
    ``(b) The Immigration and Naturalization Service shall--
            ``(1) enforce the established English language proficiency 
        standard for all applicants for United States citizenship, and
            ``(2) conduct all naturalization ceremonies entirely in 
        English.
``Sec. 166. Exceptions
    ``This chapter does not apply to the use of a language other than 
English for--
            ``(1) religious purposes,
            ``(2) training in foreign languages for international 
        communication, or
            ``(3) use of non-English terms of art in government 
        documents.
``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.
``Sec. 169. Enforcement
    ``(a) Cause of Action.--Whoever is injured by a violation of this 
chapter may, in a civil action, obtain appropriate relief.
    ``(b) Attorney's Fees.--In any action under this chapter, the court 
may allow a prevailing party, other than the United States, a 
reasonable attorney's fee as part of costs.''.
    (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 (other than sections 7201 
        through 7309) 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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