PANGASINAN
VelmaViloria:The First Filipina American Legislator
The First Filipina American legislator of Washington is from Bani, Pangasinan
Velma Rosete Veloria was first
elected to the Washington State Legislature in 1992. During her 9 years in the
legislature she has served on several different committees including, Health
Care, Judiciary, Labor and Commerce, State Government, Finance, Rules and
Capital Budget. For the past six years she has been a member of the Trade and
Economic Development Committee and has been the Democratic Chair of this
Committee for the past three years.
Because of her immigrant
and working class background, Veloria's work in the legislature and in the
broader community revolves around concerns for peace and social justice. In
addition to introducing legislation for economic development, women and minority
businesses, Veloria has organized and led trade missions to Asia and the Pacific
Rim. The mission to the Philippines in 1994 resulted in the Philippine
Government opening a trade office in Seattle. In 1995, accompanied by Gov. Mike
Lowry and leaders of the Vietnamese American community, Veloria led the first
state trade mission to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam where an agreement was
signed to develop and discuss specific project proposals for improving
commercial ties between the state of Washington and the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam.
Just last year, Veloria
participated in an educational and humanitarian mission with other women in the
legislative arena to Cuba, that once again instilled in Veloria a quest for
better and fairer trade policies with other countries of the world.
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