Assemblymember Rob Bonta
(Sacramento, CA) – Today Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) introduced legislation to uncover disparities within California’s diverse Asian Pacific Islander (API) population. AB 1726, the Accounting for Health and Education in Asian Pacific Islander Demographics Act (AHEAD Act) will track the status of API subgroups with respect to health outcomes and educational achievement.
“Despite the general portrayal of APIs as ‘model minorities’, each of our diverse communities has unique social, economic, and educational needs that must be addressed differently,” said Bonta. “Instead of lumping many API communities together under the catch-all ‘other Asian’ category, the AHEAD Act challenges these stereotypes and identifies API subgroups that are being left behind.”
California is home to the nation’s largest Asian American and second largest Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) populations. The Census Bureau calculates that each population grew by 34 percent and 29 percent, respectively, between 2000 and 2010.
“The population of California is uniquely diverse, especially within the API community. There’s no place on the planet like it,” Bonta said. “Hmong, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Samoan….There are more than 23 distinct communities within the Asian American population and 19 within the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population.”
Despite the diversity of California’s API population, state agencies only report demographic data for a few of the major API communities. The list includes: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Laotian, Cambodian, Hawaiian, Guamanian, and Samoan Americans. By failing to account for a large portion of the API population, California is unable to track the progress of the some of the fastest growing groups, including Hmong, Indonesian, Thai, and Taiwanese Americans.
Recent studies demonstrate that some communities within the API community have fallen behind in important measurements of public health and education. Although data shows the average API tends to have health insurance and is on track to obtaining a four-year degree, a break down by ethnicity demonstrates that Koreans, Cambodians, and Thai Americans have a higher percentage of being uninsured, and that Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian and Hmong American adults have the lowest educational attainment of Asian American ethnic groups.
AB 1726 takes a critical and practical step for the API community by requiring higher education institutions and public health agencies to disaggregate data into additional categories. The bill requires the California Community Colleges, California State University, the University of California, the Department of Public Health, and the Department of Healthcare Services to collect and release demographic data for the following additional populations: Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Fijian, and Tongan Americans. The data collected will include rates of admission, enrollment, completion and graduation in the education field, and disease rates, health insurance coverage, and birth and death rates for the health field.
In 2015 Bonta authored a similar bill to unveil health and education data for API subgroups. Unfortunately that bill was vetoed by the Governor. The California API Legislative Caucus promised to work closely with the Governor’s Office on AB 1726 to address his concerns, while ensuring that the bill provides valuable and needed insights that recognize communities that have been rendered invisible by monolithic demographic categories.
Bonta concluded, “Our policies must give a voice to all API subgroups. We must ensure that each API subgroup’s unique challenges are addressed appropriately.”
Assemblymember Bonta represents the 18th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro. Bonta Chairs the Assembly Health Committee, the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color, and in the second Extraordinary Session, the Public Health and Developmental Services Committee. He is also a member of the following committees: Appropriations, Budget, Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services, Joint Legislative Budget, Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management, Natural Resources, and Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security.