LANSING — Today, the House of Representatives passed House Bill 4053, which would make English the official language of Michigan. In response, state Rep. Sara Cambensy (D-Marquette) offered the following statement:
“To me, House Bill 4053 is unnecessary. English is already the ‘official’ language that our local and state governing bodies use to communicate their official proceedings to their residents. We have enough to worry about right now as legislators facing insurmountable deficits in our 2018-2019 budget in all of our state departments. In the U.P. we need our state legislators to focus on nurturing our current businesses, attracting new businesses, creating more good-paying jobs, increasing road funding, increasing revenue sharing to local units of government, appropriately funding our public schools, funding mental health, lowering prescription drug costs for seniors and lowering car insurance rates for all. I’ve never had one of my constituents tell me to codify English as our state’s official language in government – it already is. But every day, multiple times a day, constituents ask me to work hard to fix and fully fund their issues I’ve outlined here.”