Introduced in committee in the Iowa Legislature this session is House File 14, which would repeal the seven-year-old law that makes English the state’s official language.

When the measure was adopted in 2002, its proponents called the measure symbolic, saying it was a law that would unite the state under one official language. In practice, it wouldn’t really change anything.

It didn’t change anything until this past year, when the courts ruled that it was illegal for Iowa to provide voter registration forms in anything but English, despite Gov. Chet Culver’s insistence that the law’s wording allowed for such measures. The judge disagreed, and voting information in Spanish, Bosnian, Laotian and Vietnamese was pulled from the state’s Web site.

The measure is being introduced by Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Polk, who has one of the most diverse districts in Iowa. He says not only are his constituents somewhat offended by the law, but that he sees Iowans as giving and welcoming, two traits not reflected in this law.

We’re inclined to agree with Hunter. There weren’t issues before the law was passed; there are now. Furthermore, the law makes Iowans seem closed-minded and xenophobic, two adjectives we feel don’t apply to Iowa’s majority.

To function well in Iowa, immigrants have to learn English anyway. A symbolic law isn’t going to make them do that; instead, interaction and absorption into their communities will. Repeal the English-only law and don’t use it as a divisive election-year tactic in the future.

Another measure being looked at in the Statehouse is House File 200, which would replace a gubernatorial appointment with a special election in the case of a U.S senator dying or resigning.

It’s a measure that has gotten attention because of our neighbors to the east, but just because it looks like political gamesmanship does not mean it should be thrown by the wayside without a second look.

It might be cheap and easy to have the governor appoint a replacement senator, but as former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich showed, it’s not foolproof. More innocuous was Caroline Kennedy’s courting of the Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, but it still wasn’t ideal. Why shouldn’t voters be able to choose her replacement?

Special elections are costly, and they do take time, but sometimes, that’s the cost of democracy. We’d rather see our tax dollars spent on elections than pork projects any day.