SANTA MARIA, California -- The Latino population has increased 500 percent in the past 15 years in State Rep. Courtney Combs' district, located between Cincinnati and Dayton. That has created a communication problem between residents and government officials, according to Combs, a Republican.
In these situations, government agencies and business usually do their very best to provide services in Spanish to accommodate these new arrivals.
Combs' solution goes totally in a different direction. He plans to introduce a bill in the Ohio Legislature that will declare English the official language of the state. The new law, if passed, would require government agencies to produce documents in English only by the end of the year.