Commonwealth of Massachusetts

House Bill 3132

By Mrs. Murray of Cohasset, petition of Mary Jeanette Murray for legislation to designate English as the official language of the Commonwealth.

In the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Seven

AN ACT TO DESIGNATE ENGLISH AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE COMMONWEALTH.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 2 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 32 the following section: —

Section 33. The English language is hereby designated and shall be known as the official language of the commonwealth. Neither the commonwealth nor any political subdivision thereof shall require by statute, ordinance, regulation, order, program or policy the use in the state of any language other than English. Governmental officials and employees shall be bound by the provisions of this act during the performance of governmental business.

The commonwealth and all political subdivisions thereof shall take all reasonable steps to preserve, protect and enhance the role of the English language as the official language of the state. Notwithstanding any provision of this act to the contrary, the commonwealth and its political subdivisions may act in a language other than English (1) to assist students who are not proficient in the English language, by providing educational instruction in languages other than English to provide as rapid as possible a transition to English; (2) to comply with federal laws; (3) to provide foreign language instruction as part of a required or voluntary education curriculum; (4) to protect public health and safety; and (5) to protect the rights of criminal defendants or victims of crime; and that nothing in this act shall prohibit the printing of proper names.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and ninety-one [sic].

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