ALBANY, NY (WENY)-- This week New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a coalition of 16 Attorneys General to expand language access for weather alerts at a time when the country continues to face extreme weather. 

“In just the last few weeks, New Yorkers have been hammered by violent storms, flash flooding, and extreme heat, and receiving Wireless Emergency Alerts during these emergencies can be the difference between life and death,” Attorney General James stated. 

Theodore Moore, vice president of policy and programs at the New York Immigration Coalition, said the Attorneys General efforts is critically important for the safety of state residents. 

“It’s extremely, extremely dangerous when you can’t receive these alerts in a language that is accessible to you,” said Moore. 

In a letter to the the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Attorney General James and other Attorneys General propose the FCC offer wireless emergency alerts in more languages. 

Moore said during extreme weather, time is significant to follow safety instructions such as staying indoors. Certain storms may not permit residents to pass their phone on for another person to translate. 

“You need to be able to read it yourself because quite frankly if you ignore it and then you do exactly what the alert is telling you not to do then you’re putting yourself at harm," he said. 

The Attorneys General coalition letter also proposed the FCC use alert templates created by human translators rather than relying on machine translation to avoid inaccuracies. 

The coalition stated using the approach of human translators rather than machine translators will increase the number of languages available from 13 to at least 25. 

Expanding languages through the FCC requires a rule making process. Attorney General James and other state Attorneys General stated in their letter they are committed to helping this process.