Representative Elizabeth Velasco Champions Clean Water for Colorado’s Latino Communities and Language-Inclusive Emergency Alerts
By Breanna Gonzalez, HECHO’s Colorado Field Coordinator.
HECHO congratulates Representative Elizabeth Velasco on passing two critical pieces of bipartisan legislation for Latinos and conservation. As part of the Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council (HCLC), Rep. Velasco has demonstrated her commitment to ensuring that Latino leaders have a voice and a seat at the table to support conservation-friendly policies that reflect the values, traditions, and needs of our communities.
Language-inclusive emergency alerts are critical, particularly as wildfires become more frequent in Colorado. Emergency alerts are necessary to notify individuals of potential dangers to themselves or their property. However, limiting notifications to just English leaves non-English speakers without the resources or information they need to react to life-threatening situations.
To address this issue, Rep. Velasco's bill, Inclusive Language Emergency Situations (HB23-1237), will help identify ways to best communicate emergency information to non-English speakers and people with disabilities. The bill will allow state-wide studies to identify how municipalities, sheriff's offices, counties, fire districts, and local 911 agencies can best provide emergency alerts in a non-English language and implement live interpretation during a 911 call.
Additionally, the passage of the Mobile Home Park Water Quality Bill (HB23-1257) is particularly urgent for Colorado's Latino community, which has faced significant barriers to accessing clean water, especially in rural areas.
According to the Clean Water for All coalition, Latinos account for 29% of the Colorado mobile home park population, and many of these residents lack access to clean drinking water. Rep. Velasco's bill addresses this issue promptly and effectively by creating a water testing program and grant program for mobile home parks, a crucial step towards improving the living conditions for these populations.
Through these bills, Rep. Velasco is working towards creating a more just and equitable Colorado, where everyone can access clean water and stay safe during emergencies, regardless of their language proficiency.
We hope these bills will serve as examples to other states to prioritize the needs of diverse communities. Her efforts to protect Latino communities through conservation policy are vital, and we are honored to recognize her contributions.