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Rep. Dan Flynn wants to stop using state money to print public documents in languages other than English. His House Bill 81 would also repeal a key section of the Texas election code, which requires voting precincts to provide bilingual elections materials.

According to Flynn, it’s all about the Benjamins.

“We’re printing a lot of things in languages,” he says, “and no one reads the material, and they get thrown away. I want to be sure that we maximize every tax dollar that we have.”

It’s true that lawmakers will have to practice some frugality this session, considering the $9.1 billion shortfall. But will prohibiting the printing of public documents in non-English languages work a fiscal miracle?

It’s hard to know how much money the state’s many agencies spend on publishing foreign-language public documents. But the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services was able to provide a breakdown. According to communications manager Darrell Azar, DFPS spent $733,062 on publications in fiscal year 2008. Of that, $90,644 (12.3 percent) was for Spanish-language documents. However, not all that money was from the state; a significant portion came from federal funding and private donations.

Among the documents printed in Spanish: “Protecting Vulnerable Adults”; a poster reading “Kids should be seen and not hurt”; information on the Texas Youth Hotline; and a brochure containing rules for licensed home-based daycares. Azar says that DFPS prints many fewer items in Spanish than in English, and many publications it doesn’t print in Spanish at all, because the audience doesn’t need it.

Many other Spanish-language documents printed by state agencies concern safety, health and well-being, including a brochure of health and safety resources for Hurricane Ike victims (Health and Human Services Commission); a hot-line number for reporting youth exploitation (Texas Youth Commission); and a brochure on addiction and substance abuse (Department of State Health Services).

And then there’s the issue of repealing Section 272 of the Texas Election Code.

Under that section, Texas precincts where 5 percent or more of the population is of “Spanish origin or descent” must provide ballots, instruction posters, affidavit forms, early voting materials and voter registration applications in English and Spanish.

“These precincts have been throwing these ballots in the trash,” Flynn asserts.

This is certainly the most puzzling part of Flynn’s bill, since the federal Voting Rights Act, administered by the U.S. Department of Justice, requires every county in Texas to provide Spanish-language elections materials, according to Randall Dillard, spokesman for the Texas secretary of state.

What, then, is the effect of repealing Section 272?

It “removes the detailed instructions to counties on how to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act,” says Nina Perales, regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and makes things “more confusing for counties and places them in danger of violating federal law.”

According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate, 34 percent of Texans over 5 years old speak a language other than English at home, and almost 15 percent speak English “less than ‘very well.’” But maybe HB 81 is not just about them.

Flynn is also worried about the average American’s nerves with all those foreign-language documents lying around. “It’s very frustrating to most Americans,” he said. “You’ve probably gone to Wal-Mart and picked something up and had to search for English on the instructions.”