Woori Juntos began the legislative session hoping to win over a majority of legislators to their cause — making it easier for Texans who speak no or limited English to access crucial state services. First, they needed a lawmaker to file their bill.
during the legislative session. For the next few months, The Texas Tribune will follow the staff of Woori Juntos, a Houston community group, as they try to convince lawmakers that their community is worth helping by knocking down language barriers that stand between non-English-speaking Texans and their government.
Somehow, the four advocates from Woori Juntos, a community group serving Houston’s Korean community, had to find a way to break through the noise. Nicole Ma, Woori Juntos’ organizing and policy associate, waits to speak with a legislative staffer about the group’s proposal to widen language options for Texans attempting to access state health programs.The idea of pushing for legislation to improve language access for Texas’ populations that don’t speak English or Spanish had been born back in Houston, Woori Juntos’ home base.
Texans calling the state benefits helpline can ask a “live agent” for an interpreter, according to a commission spokesperson. But they must first get through an automated system with limited language options. It asks English speakers to dial 1 and Spanish speakers to dial 2. A third option allows callers to hit zero for other languages — an announcement that’s recorded in English — but then they’ll hear options only in Vietnamese, Farsi, Somali, Arabic, Mandarin and French.
An affable and confident public speaker, Sarah Syed, the group’s senior community organizer, would typically introduce Woori Juntos and lay out their policy priorities. Ma, equal parts bubbly and serious, would detail the difficulties faced by Woori Juntos’ clients trying to navigate life in a second language.
Most importantly, the staffer offered to submit their policy memo to the Texas Legislative Council, the state agency responsible for turning ideas into technical legislative language. Council staff would write their bill, helping them over the first major hurdle. And then it was the Tuesday before the Friday deadline, and Woori Juntos was still without a bill to show around.
Woori Juntos felt the weight of their community’s needs as they waited anxiously for the draft language they needed. The group of advocates themselves brought to the Capitol a representation of the state’s Asian diaspora — a segment of the state population that hasn’t always been reflected in its halls of power, where most lawmakers are white.
It fell to Ma to stop in at the office of their top choice to sponsor the legislation — Dallas-area Rep., a well-respected lawmaker with experience on health and human services issues. Ma’s brown cowboy boots clipped against the floor as she hurried past Capitol regulars, lobbyists and gadflys who lawmakers knew by name.
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