Section 3-3-31. State Language (1987)

The English language is the official language of the state of Mississippi.

House Bill 500

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 3-3-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THAT ALL PRIVATE AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRODUCED BY STATE AGENCIES OR GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES OF THE STATE BE PUBLISHED IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ONLY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1.  Section 3-3-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

•      (1)  The English language is the official language of the State of Mississippi.

•      (2)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all documents produced by state agencies or governmental entities of the state shall be in the English language only.

SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

House Bill 939
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 3-3-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THAT ALL STATE AGENCIES AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS OFFER ALL SERVICES OR OTHER MATERIALS IN AN ENGLISH-ONLY FORMAT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1.  Section 3-3-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

•      (1)  The English language is the official language of the State of Mississippi.

•      (2)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all state agencies and political subdivisions of the state shall offer all services, publications, printed, audio and video materials and tests in an English-only format unless otherwise required by federal law or regulations.

SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN MISSISSIPPI

2,545,931	English
95,522	All languages other than English combined
50,515	Spanish or Spanish Creole
10,826	French (incl. Patois, Cajun)
5,654	Other Native North American languages
5,501	German
4,916	Vietnamese
2,506	Chinese
2,005	Tagalog
1,485	Korean
1,336	Italian
1,081	Arabic
998	Japanese
798	Hindi
581	African languages
579	Gujarathi
567	Russian
435	Persian
418	Portuguese or Portuguese Creole
397	Thai
394	Greek
320	Urdu
255	Hebrew
253	Scandinavian languages
245	Polish
153	Mon-Khmer, Cambodian
142	French Creole
124	Serbo-Croatian
113	Hungarian
53	Laotian
21	Yiddish
14	Miao, Hmong
13	Navajo
8	Armenian