[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 200 (Monday, October 19, 2009)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 53635-53638]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-25268]
[[Page 53633]]
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Part IV
The President
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Executive Order 13515--Increasing Participation of Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders in Federal Programs
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 200 / Monday, October 19, 2009 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
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Executive Order 13515 of October 14, 2009
Increasing Participation of Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders in Federal Programs
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. The more than 16 million Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) across our
country have helped build a strong and vibrant America.
The AAPI communities represent many ethnicities and
languages that span generations, and their shared
achievements are an important part of the American
experience. They have started businesses and generated
jobs, including founding some of our Nation's most
successful and innovative enterprises. The AAPI
communities have made important contributions to
science and technology, culture and the arts, and the
professions, including business, law, medicine,
education, and politics.
While we acknowledge the many contributions of the AAPI
communities to our Nation, we also recognize the
challenges still faced by many AAPIs. Of the more than
a million AAPI-owned businesses, many firms are small
sole-proprietorships that continue to need assistance
to access available resources such as business
development counseling and small business loans. The
AAPI community also continues to face barriers to
employment and workplace advancement. Specific
challenges experienced by AAPI subgroups include lower
college-enrollment rates by Pacific Islanders than
other ethnic groups and high poverty rates among Hmong
Americans, Cambodian Americans, Malaysian Americans,
and other individual AAPI communities. Additionally,
one in five non-elderly AAPIs lacks health insurance.
The purpose of this order is to establish a President's
Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders and a White House Initiative on Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders. Each will work to
improve the quality of life and opportunities for Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders through increased
access to, and participation in, Federal programs in
which they may be underserved. In addition, each will
work to advance relevant evidence-based research, data
collection, and analysis for AAPI populations and
subpopulations.
Sec. 2. President's Advisory Commission on Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders. There is established
in the Department of Education the President's Advisory
Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
(Commission).
(a) Mission and Function of the Commission. The
Commission shall provide advice to the President,
through the Secretaries of Education and Commerce, as
Co-Chairs of the Initiative described in section 3 of
this order, on: (i) the development, monitoring, and
coordination of executive branch efforts to improve the
quality of life of AAPIs through increased
participation in Federal programs in which such persons
may be underserved; (ii) the compilation of research
and data related to AAPI populations and
subpopulations; (iii) the development, monitoring, and
coordination of Federal efforts to improve the economic
and community development of AAPI businesses; and (iv)
strategies to increase public and private-sector
collaboration, and community involvement in improving
the health, education, environment, and well-being of
AAPIs.
[[Page 53636]]
(b) Membership of the Commission. The Commission shall
consist of not more than 20 members appointed by the
President. The Commission shall include members who:
(i) have a history of involvement with the AAPI
communities; (ii) are from the fields of education,
commerce, business, health, human services, housing,
environment, arts, agriculture, labor and employment,
transportation, justice, veterans affairs, and economic
and community development; (iii) are from civic
associations representing one or more of the diverse
AAPI communities; or (iv) have such other experience as
the President deems appropriate. The President shall
designate one member of the Commission to serve as
Chair, who shall convene regular meetings of the
Commission, determine its agenda, and direct its work.
(c) Administration of the Commission. The Secretary of
Education, in consultation with the Secretary of
Commerce, shall designate an Executive Director for the
Commission. The Department of Education shall provide
funding and administrative support for the Commission
to the extent permitted by law and within existing
appropriations. Members of the Commission shall serve
without compensation, but shall be allowed travel
expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as
authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in
the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707). Insofar as
the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5
U.S.C. App.) (the ``Act''), may apply to the
administration of the Commission, any functions of the
President under the Act, except that of reporting to
the Congress, shall be performed by the Secretary of
Education, in accordance with the guidelines issued by
the Administrator of General Services.
(d) Termination Date. The Commission shall terminate 2
years from the date of this order, unless renewed by
the President.
Sec. 3. White House Initiative on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders. There is established the White House
Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
(Initiative), a Federal interagency working group whose
members shall be selected by their respective agencies.
The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of
Education shall serve as the Co-Chairs of the
Initiative. The Executive Director of the Commission
established in section 2 of this order shall also serve
as the Executive Director of the Initiative and shall
report to the Secretaries on Initiative matters.
(a) Mission and Function of the Initiative. The
Initiative shall work to improve the quality of life of
AAPIs through increased participation in Federal
programs in which AAPIs may be underserved. The
Initiative shall advise the Co-Chairs on the
implementation and coordination of Federal programs as
they relate to AAPIs across executive departments and
agencies.
(b) Membership of the Initiative. In addition to the
Co-Chairs, the Initiative shall consist of senior
officials from the following executive branch
departments, agencies, and offices:
(i) the Department of State;
(ii) the Department of the Treasury;
(iii) the Department of Defense;
(iv) the Department of Justice;
(v) the Department of the Interior;
(vi) the Department of Agriculture;
(vii) the Department of Labor;
(viii) the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(ix) the Department of Transportation;
(x) the Department of Energy;
(xi) the Department of Health and Human Services;
(xii) the Department of Veterans Affairs;
(xiii) the Department of Homeland Security;
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(xiv) the Office of Management and Budget;
(xv) the Environmental Protection Agency;
(xvi) the Small Business Administration;
(xvii) the Office of Personnel Management;
(xviii) the Social Security Administration;
(xix) the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs;
(xx) the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public
Engagement;
(xxi) the National Economic Council;
(xxii) the Domestic Policy Council;
(xxiii) the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and
(xxiv) other executive branch departments, agencies, and offices as the
President may, from time to time, designate.
At the direction of the Co-Chairs, the Initiative may
establish subgroups consisting exclusively of
Initiative members or their designees under this
section, as appropriate.
(c) Administration of the Initiative. The Department of
Education shall provide funding and administrative
support for the Initiative to the extent permitted by
law and within existing appropriations. The Co-Chairs
shall convene regular meetings of the Initiative,
determine its agenda, and direct its work.
(d) Federal Agency Plans and Interagency Plan. Each
executive department and agency designated by the
Initiative shall prepare a plan (agency plan) for, and
shall document, its efforts to improve the quality of
life of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders through
increased participation in Federal programs in which
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders may be
underserved. Where appropriate, this agency plan shall
address, among other things, the agency's efforts to:
(i) identify Federal programs in which AAPIs may be underserved and improve
the quality of life for AAPIs through increased participation in these
programs;
(ii) identify ways to foster the recruitment, career development, and
advancement of AAPIs in the Federal Government;
(iii) identify high-priority action items for which measurable progress may
be achieved within 2 years to improve the health, environment, opportunity,
and well-being of AAPIs, and implement those action items;
(iv) increase public-sector, private-sector, and community involvement in
improving the health, environment, opportunity, and well-being of AAPIs;
(v) foster evidence-based research, data-collection, and analysis on AAPI
populations and subpopulations, including research and data on public
health, environment, education, housing, employment, and other economic
indicators of AAPI community well-being; and
(vi) solicit public input from AAPI communities on ways to increase and
improve opportunities for public participation in Federal programs
considering a number of factors, including language barriers.
Each agency, in its plan, shall provide appropriate
measurable objectives and, after the first year, shall
provide for the assessment of that agency's performance
on the goals set in the previous year's plan. Each
agency plan shall be submitted to the Co-Chairs by a
date to be established by the Co-Chairs. The Co-Chairs
shall review the agency plans and develop for
submission to the President a Federal interagency plan
to improve the quality of life of AAPIs through
increased participation in Federal programs in which
such persons may be underserved. Actions described in
the Federal interagency plan shall address improving
access by AAPIs to Federal programs and fostering
advances in relevant research and data.
[[Page 53638]]
Sec. 4. General Provisions.
(a) This order supersedes Executive Order 13125 of June
7, 1999, and Executive Order 13339 of May 13, 2004.
(b) The heads of executive departments and agencies
shall assist and provide information to the Commission,
consistent with applicable law, as may be necessary to
carry out the functions of the Commission. Each
executive department and agency shall bear its own
expenses of participating in the Commission.
(c) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair
or otherwise affect:
(i) authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof; or
(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(d) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(e) For purposes of this order, the term ``Asian
American and Pacific Islander'' includes persons within
the jurisdiction of the United States having ancestry
of any of the original peoples of East Asia, Southeast
Asia, or South Asia, or any of the aboriginal,
indigenous, or native peoples of Hawaii and other
Pacific Islands.
(f) This order is not intended to, and does not, create
any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
October 14, 2009.
[FR Doc. E9-25268
Filed 10-16-09; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3195-W9-P