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A Democratic-controlled state House panel killed two Republican-backed bills Tuesday that proponents say addresses illegal immigration, one of which would put driver’s license tests only in English.

The other bill that was killed would have allowed the Tennessee Highway Patrol to be trained by federal authorities to enforce immigration laws.

The Public Safety and Rural Roads Subcommittee voted against both bills, mainly along party lines with Democrats opposing and Republicans favoring.

Both measures had previously passed the Republican-controlled state Senate.

State Rep. Phillip Pinion (D-Union City), the chairman of the House Transportation Committee who voted against both bills as an Ex officio member of the subcommittee, said the English-only driver’s license bill “sends a bad message” to possible and current foreign investment in Tennessee.

“It’s a global economy now, and I just don’t want us to look like we’re redneck, saying we don’t want them,” Pinion said.

The bill to put driver’s license tests in English-only failed on a 6-6 vote after Pinion and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D-Covington), another Ex officio member of the subcommittee, came in and voted against the measure.

Naifeh was forced to vote after Rep. Nathan Vaughn, a Democrat from Kingsport, voted with the Republicans. Naifeh’s vote gave the Democrats enough to keep the bill from passing the subcommittee.

Rep. Tom Dubois (R-Columbia) said the bill is a “safety concern” because drivers need to be able to read the road signs that are posted in English.

“I think the bill sends the right message that we are trying to protect the citizens of Tennessee by requiring folks, if they’re driving on our roads, to know how to read road signs adequately,” Dubois said.

Currently, the state gives driver’s license tests in four languages: English, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.

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