ProEnglish Support Makes “Official English” the Law in Carroll County, Maryland

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January 24, 2013                                                                                       or  philkent@philkent.com

ARLINGTON, VA— The Carroll County, Maryland, Board of Commissioners today voted unanimously to designate English as the official language of the county government, just weeks after ProEnglish, the nation’s leading advocate of official English, testified in favor of the measure.

“ProEnglish provides Carroll County and other counties model language as a guide when writing the proposed ordinance because the wording has withstood legal attack when adopted elsewhere,” says ProEnglish Executive Director Robert Vandervoort. “Carroll is the third county in Maryland to take this needed step, following Frederick County and Queen Anne’s County which passed similar laws last year.”

ProEnglish Government Relations Director Suzanne Bibby testified before the commissioners at a December hearing and urged them to approve the ordinance sponsored by Commissioner Haven Shoemaker. “Instead of encouraging immigrants and their children to learn English, government— at the local, state and federal levels— is making it policy to communicate with non-English speakers in their native languages,”  Bibby said.  “These kinds of policies are an unacceptable reversal of the traditional American assimilation model.”

“Passing this ordinance will help promote immigrants’ successful integration into American life, save taxpayer dollars, and set a good precedent for other counties and the Maryland state legislature to follow,” Vandervoort adds. “Thirty one states have passed official-English-in-government laws and the new Congress will soon be considering such legislation at the federal level.”