Twenty-seven House members, led by Reps. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), signed a July 6 letter urging the FCC to include language-access experts in its July 7 Hurricane Season Resiliency Roundtable.
The letter presses the FCC, amid delays in implementing multilingual emergency alerts, to prioritize culturally competent, multilingual disaster communications.
The lawmakers highlighted that nearly 68 million U.S. residents speak a non-English language at home, with over 25 million classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP), facing barriers to accessing emergency alerts and recovery information during disasters.
They called on FCC Chair Brendan Carr and Acting Public Safety Bureau Chief Zenji Nakazawa to embed language accessibility in all phases of disaster preparedness and response, including Wireless Emergency Alerts, Emergency Alert System messages, and 911 standards.
The push follows the FCC’s 2023 vote to require wireless alerts in 13 languages and American Sign Language, which has faced criticism for slow implementation. Amid Texas flooding that killed dozens, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez reiterated support for multilingual alert requirements.
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