Bill to Improve Language Access Passes Senate Committee
HB25-1153 would authorize a statewide assessment of language accessibility across all principal departments
DENVER, CO – Senator Iman Jodeh’s, D-Aurora, bill to improve language access across all Colorado state departments passed the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee today.
“Equality under the law is not possible without equal access to state services for the more than 300,000 Coloradans who speak a language other than English,” Jodeh said. “The assessments this bill would activate would be our due diligence to ensure that we are striving for true equal access to the public services like job training opportunities, rental assistance, and legal rights support that make Colorado great.”
HB25-1153 would require a language access assessment to be conducted in most state departments. This assessment would help identify departments’ needs for compliance with language access standards, identify existing language services, and recommend improvements to ensure Coloradans can access government services, regardless of English fluency.
The bill would require the findings from the assessment to be included in a report by December 31, 2026. The report would include findings and recommendations including:
Improving efficiency, increasing quality of service, reducing costs, avoiding duplicative work, utilizing existing best practices, and minimizing administrative burden when implementing linguistically accessible government services and programs,
Addressing gaps in language access and improving meaningful services,
Identifying potential technological advancements to increase language access, and
Determining what infrastructure is needed to fully implement the standards in the language access universal policy.
Senator Jodeh has championed other legislation this year to increase opportunities for representation and access in state government. SB25-050, also sponsored by Jodeh, would require a space to indicate Middle Eastern, North African, or South Asian identity on government classification forms.
A December 2024 report from the Office of New Americans found that language access in Colorado state agencies varied and lacked coordination, but nearly all state agencies expressed interest in receiving additional support from the state to address language access needs.
HB25-1153 now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration. Track its progress HERE.