What Happened To California’s Asian And Pacific Islander American Legislation?
The California Legislature held its last scheduled meeting on September 9. It is not scheduled to meet again until January 4, 2011.
Many bills were approved by the legislature and sent to the Governor. Others were not so lucky.
California Communities United Institute (CalComUI) tracked 31 bills that affect the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community this year. Seventeen of those bills were sent to the Governor but he vetoed 9 of them. He signed 8 of the API bills. Two others (ACR 6 and ACR 16) became law without need of the Governor’s signature. For what it’s worth, the success rate on these bill is roughly the same as the success rate for Latino/Latina legislation tracked by CalComUI.
The Governor gave various reasons for vetoing the bills. For example, AB 1116 would have required the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) to consider the needs of people who speak limited English when designing its plans for helping the public in a major disaster such as an Earthquake.
In vetoing the bill he said, "This bill is unnecessary. Cal EMA already considers the needs of limited English proficiency populations when revising and preparing emergency preparedness materials. Moreover, I will direct Cal EMA to review local plans to account for populations that do not speak English when alerts for evacuation are issued or when emergency medical care is required at shelters. "
The Governor also vetoed SB 442 which would have required hospitals to enquire into their patients’ cultural, religious, or spiritual beliefs or practices that may influence care, and to assure that hospital procedures be designed to increase hospital staff ability to understand and respond effectively to the cultural needs of patients.
Here is an example of why this bill was important. To India's millions of Hindus, the cow is a holy animal that cannot be harmed. Thus, if one of these Hindus migrated to California, and was hospitalized here, it would be important for the hospital to be aware of his or her religious beliefs. Knowing that, the hospital would avoid serving a meal to the patient that contained beef.
In his veto message on this bill the Governor said, "Inquiring into a patient's cultural, religious, or spiritual beliefs is good hospital practice, but not one that needs to be mandated by the state, nor applied only to non-English or limited English-speaking patients. " He added that any concerns of this sort should be resolved at the local level, not the state level.
To see a list of the 31 API bills tracked by CalComUI, click here.
To read copies of the Governor’s veto messages on the API bills tracked by CalcomUI, click here.
Boyce Hinman
California Communities United Institute
