By Virginia Young05/14/2007 4:26 pm
An initiative petition drive may be undertaken to make English the language for all official proceedings in Missouri, proponents said Monday.
Rep. Brian Nieves, R-Washington, made the prediction when he held a press conference to blast the Senate for shelving the proposal, which he sponsors.
"It certainly appears to be almost impossible" to pass it before the legislative session ends Friday, Nieves said.
The amendment, HJR7, would amend the state constitution to require that public meetings and votes of governmental bodies be conducted in English. If passed by the Legislature, it would be on the ballot in November 2008.
Nieves said nothing would change under the amendment, because no government proceedings in Missouri are conducted in other languages. He said he wants to prevent that from happening in the future. He cited a small town in Texas where the city council conducts meetings in Spanish.
Nieves said he had worked for four years to appease critics and "give and give and give and water this down." The initiative petition will be harsher, he warned.
“If we don’t pass HJR 7, which happens to be covered in sugar and spice and everything nice, what they’re going to get in an initiative petition is not going to be covered in sugar and spice and everything nice," Nieves said.
Democrats have said the measure is aimed at motivating the conservative Republican base to go to the polls. Nieves denied that, saying the amendment had bipartisan support when it passed the House.
One opponent, Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, watched the GOP press conference. She said later that the amendment would “increase the dialogue of hatred" and spur discrimination against foreign-speaking residents.
As an example, she pointed to the many Asian-owed businesses in her legislative district. When they need liquor licenses, she said, some officials at city council meetings have spoken to them in Mandarin or other languages. The amendment would limit the city in communicating with such taxpaying businesses, she said.
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