HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 93-4655, by Representatives Veloria, Shin, Anderson, Sehlin, Leonard, Tate, Quall, Van Luven, Patterson, Flemming, Wineberry, Chandler, Thibaudeau, G. Cole, Brown, Romero, Karahalios, Casada, Wood, Stevens, Campbell, Locke, Valle, R. Johnson, Heavey, Dorn, Ogden, L. Johnson, R. Meyers, Horn, Talcott, Padden, Mielke, Edmondson, J. Kohl, Holm, Jacobsen, Lemmon, Forner, Silver, Brough, Cooke, Dyer, Foreman, Miller, Chappell, Kessler, Finkbeiner, Ballasiotes, Lisk, Morton, Dunshee, R. Fisher, Sheahan, Ballard, Sommers, Roland, H. Myers, Pruitt, Eide, Thomas, Kremen and Wang

            WHEREAS, This great nation was built in large part through the hard work and enterprise of immigrants who left their homelands to begin a new life in this country; and

            WHEREAS, Washington has the nation's third fastest-growing immigrant population of any state, and the third largest refugee population of any state; and

            WHEREAS, Nearly one in ten Washington residents speaks a language other than English at home, and the number of non-English-speaking homes has increased dramatically during the last decade; and

            WHEREAS, Learning the English language has been, and continues to be, critical to new immigrants if they are to succeed and prosper in this country; and

            WHEREAS, More than thirty-one thousand students in Washington State currently receive English instruction through the state's Transitional Bilingual program, and thousands of adults receive instruction through a variety of state-supported and volunteer programs; and

            WHEREAS, These students are taught by a dedicated group of educators, many of whom volunteer their services; and

            WHEREAS, If the State of Washington is to successfully compete in international markets, having citizens who are multilingual is essential;

            NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor the citizens of this state who are multilingual and the educators and other individuals who are working to assist non-English-speaking immigrants learn English; and

            BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives join the Governor and the Superintendent of Public Instruction in declaring the week of April 19-23 as a time to acknowledge the value and importance of bilingual and English-as-a-second language education to our nation.

                                           I hereby certify this to be a true and correct copy of

                                      Resolution 4655 adopted by the House of Representatives

                                                                       April 20, 1993.

                                                    ________________________________

                                                            Alan Thompson, Chief Clerk