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Legal Status of official English in California

In 1986, this state passed this amendment to their state constitution making English the state's official language. Despite this, Oakland and San Francisco have frozen the hiring of employees who do not speak a language other than English. ProEnglish is suing the federal government in California to rescind Executive Order 13166, a federal regulation which compels recipients of federal funds to provide services in multiple foreign language.

California law had required all children who do not speak English to be placed into bilingual education programs. In 1998, voters replaced that law with one mandating access to English immersion programs. Achievement scores have since sharply risen in all subjects areas. Scores may have been helped by replacing "whole language" spelling instruction with "phonics," and a lower student-faculty ration, but test scores improvements were highly correlated to the vigor with which school districts implemented the new law, Proposition 227.

More than 10% of Californians speak little or no English.
One million residents live in households where no-one over 14 speaks English (linguistically isolated). 39.5 percent of this state's residents speak a language other than English in their homes.
 The foreign languages most commonly spoken as the primary language in the home are (adults):
Spanish, 5,917,071 speakers
Chinese, with 696, 387
Tagalog (Philipino), 558,639
Vietnamese, 323,969
Korean, 243,832
Japanese, 138,761.
This state has the nation's highest proportion of speakers of Vietnamese, Thai/Lao (34, 173 speakers), Persian, Armenian, Panjabi, and Formosan, as well as the most people who cannot understand basic English.

California Official English Amendment

CALIFORNIA STATE CONSTITUTION,
ARTICLE III, SECTION 6
(Proposition 63, 1986)

Section 1:
(a) Purpose.
English is the common language of the people of the United States of America and the State of California. This section is intended to preserve, protect and strengthen the English language, and not to supersede any of the rights guaranteed to the people of this Constitution.
(b) English as the Official Language of California.
English is the official language of California.
(c) Enforcement.
The Legislature shall enforce this section by appropriate legislation. The Legislature and officials of the State of California shall take all steps necessary to insure that the role of English as the common language of the State of California is preserved and enhanced. The Legislature shall make no law which diminishes or ignores the role of English as the common language of the State of California.
(d) Personal Right of Action and Jurisdiction of Courts.
Any person who is a resident of or doing business in the State of California shall have standing to sue the State of California to enforce this action, and the Courts of record of the State of California shall have jurisdiction to hear cases brought to enforce this section. The Legislature may provide reasonable and appropriate limitations on the time and manner of suits brought under this section.
Section 2: Severability.
If any provision of this section, or the application of any such provision to any person or circumstance, shall be held invalid, the remainder of this section to the extent it can be given effect shall not be affected thereby, and to this end, the provisions of this section are severable.