SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, the Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Legislative Caucus announced its 2022 policy priorities, which include confronting the disturbing increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination, as well as addressing systemic inequities that have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From March 2020 to December 2021, the Stop AAPI Hate reporting project has documented more than 10,905 incidents of anti-Asian attacks nationwide. Almost half of the attacks have occurred in California, and around 62% of the reports were made by women. Furthermore, a recent survey by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum found that 74% of participants reported experiencing racism and/or discrimination in 2021.
“It has been two years since the start of the pandemic and the AAPI community continues to face anti-Asian hate, while dealing with the inequities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. We are honored to work with Stop AAPI Hate to implement specific policy changes based on their critical work over the past few years,” said Senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), Chair of the AAPI Legislative Caucus. “I am proud the AAPI Legislative Caucus has once again produced a legislative package that reverses systematic biases and elevates AAPI communities across the state.”
“Our top legislative priority is preventing and tracking the alarming rise in hate crimes targeting the Asian American and Pacific Islander community,” said Assemblymember Evan Low (D- Silicon Valley), Vice Chair of the AAPI Legislative Caucus. “But we know that these attacks are more than isolated incidents — they are directly linked to systemic racism, xenophobia, and misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. Creating a safer and more just society will require additional legislation to better educate and inform the public, which is why we also prioritized bills that advance ethnic studies, protect refugees and immigrants, keep the government accountable, and expand access to information and health care.”
Members of the AAPI Legislative Caucus voted to prioritize the following 12 bills for the 2022 legislative session:
Anti-Asian Hate Bill Package:
SB 1161 (Min) - Will require California’s 10 largest transit operators to gather information on street harassment of women and other vulnerable communities and to develop data-driven initiatives to help prevent street harassment on public transit systems.
AB 1947 (Ting) - Requires all law enforcement agencies to adopt an updated hate crimes policy that instructs officers on how to identify, respond to, and report hate crimes.
AB 2448 (Ting) - Requires businesses to train workers on spotting and reporting acts of discrimination that occur on their premises.
AB 2549 (Bonta, Muratsuchi, Weber) - Creates a public health approach to prevent the street harassment of women and other vulnerable communities in California.
Additional AAPI Caucus Policy Priorities:
SB 1033 (Pan) - Strengthens requirements on commercial plans to utilize best practice survey method standards for the collection of demographic data and data on community needs, such as housing, nutrition, and other supports, which have been shown to positively impact health outcomes.
AB 723 (Low) - Allows the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to waive the behind-the-wheel driving examination for a person with a driver’s license from a foreign nation when applying for a California driver’s license if specific conditions are met.
AB 1614 (Muratsuchi) - Adds $4.2 billion into the existing Local Control Funding Formula above the statutory cost-of-living adjustment for the 2022-23 budget year, with the intent that the Legislature strive to reach the top ten states in the county in K-12 per pupil spending.
AB 1801 (Nazarian) - Establishes April 24th as a state holiday referred to as "Armenian Genocide Awareness Day."
AB 1944 (Lee) – Allows members of a local legislative body, upon majority vote, to waive the Brown Act requirements of publishing their private address on the meeting agenda and making this address open to members of the public. It would also require a remote participation option for members of the public to address the body.
AB 2095 (Kalra) - Requires large employers with 1,000 or more employees to annually report to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) data related to job quality such as pay, hours, turnover, and equity.
AB 2164 (Lee) - Supports local jurisdictions with sustained funding to improve accessibility in their regions by: (1) removing the January 1, 2024 fee sunset, enabling local governments to collect the $4.00 business license fee indefinitely; and (2) clarifying local jurisdictions’ ability to use these funds for small business accessibility related grants.
AB 2596 (Low) - Recognizes Asian culture and celebrates the fabric of American diversity by making Lunar New Year Day a paid state holiday.