In the past several years, a number of states have enacted laws requiring all classroom instructors employed by the state to be proficient in English. Other states will have similar laws on the books within the year, and another handful are still considering the issue. These laws have affected primarily the international teaching assistants (ITAs). Programs have been instituted to prepare the ITAs more adequately for their classroom duties, but for the most part these have been individual responses by the affected institutions. There is very little comprehensive information available on the political and administrative questions that these English proficiency laws have raised. Those questions address such issues as the locus of ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance, the responsibility of the entities that fund and/or administer the programs, state government and university administration expectations, follow-up and enforcement mechanisms, definitions of proficiency, and assessment and placement of the ITAs. Reports from the state governments suggest a variety of solutions to the proficiency requirements. (Author/MSE)