[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 95 (Thursday, May 16, 2019)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22321-22325]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-10398]



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Vol. 84

Thursday,

No. 95

May 16, 2019

Part III





The President





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Executive Order 13872--Economic Empowerment of Asian Americans and 
Pacific Islanders
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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 84 , No. 95 / Thursday, May 16, 2019 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                Executive Order 13872 of May 13, 2019

                
Economic Empowerment of Asian Americans and 
                Pacific Islanders

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, and in order to empower Asian Americans and 
                Pacific Islanders to improve the quality of their 
                lives, raise the standard of living of their families 
                and communities, and more fully participate in our 
                economy, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy. There are presently more than 20 
                million people of Asian American or Pacific Islander 
                (AAPI) descent residing in the United States, which 
                amounts to more than 6 percent of the population. The 
                AAPI population is the most rapidly growing ethnic 
                group in the country and is expected to increase to 
                over 40 million individuals by 2060. At that time, 
                people of AAPI descent are projected to be more than 9 
                percent of the Nation's population. Asian Americans and 
                Pacific Islanders have helped build a strong and 
                vibrant America. Generations of AAPI individuals, 
                families, and communities are composed of diverse and 
                varied ethnicities, languages, and cultures, and 
                include residents of United States Pacific Island 
                territories and freely associated states. They play an 
                important economic role, having started businesses and 
                generated jobs that pay billions of dollars in wages 
                and taxes, including founding some of our Nation's most 
                successful and innovative enterprises. Asian Americans 
                and Pacific Islanders have made important contributions 
                to science and technology, culture and the arts, and 
                the professions, such as business, law, medicine, 
                education, politics, and economics. Their shared 
                accomplishments and legacies are an inspirational, 
                significant, and celebrated part of the American 
                experience.

                While we celebrate the many contributions of the AAPI 
                communities to our Nation, we also recognize that AAPI 
                communities and enterprises encounter challenges 
                accessing economic resources and opportunities. Many of 
                the more than 1.9 million AAPI-owned enterprises are 
                small sole-proprietorships that need assistance to 
                access available resources such as business development 
                counseling, small-business loans, and government 
                procurement opportunities. Today's AAPI workforce is 
                the largest it has been in American history, and we 
                will continue striving toward furthering AAPI 
                advancement in employment and workforce development as 
                well as increasing AAPI participation and 
                representation in the upper levels of leadership in the 
                public and private sectors.

                The purpose of this order is to establish the 
                President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and 
                Pacific Islanders and the White House Initiative on 
                Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Each will work 
                to broaden access by AAPI employers and communities to 
                economic resources and opportunities, thus empowering 
                AAPIs to improve the quality of their lives, raise the 
                standard of living of their families and communities, 
                and more fully participate in our economy. 
                Additionally, each will work to advance relevant 
                evidence-based research, data collection, and analysis 
                for AAPI populations, subpopulations, and businesses.

                Sec. 2. President's Advisory Commission on Asian 
                Americans and Pacific Islanders. The President's 
                Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific 
                Islanders (the ``Commission'') is established in the 
                Department of Commerce.

[[Page 22322]]

                    (a) Mission and Function of the Commission. The 
                Commission shall provide advice to the President, 
                through the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of 
                Transportation, who shall serve 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 broaden access by AAPI employers and communities to economic 
resources and opportunities;

(ii) strategies for encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship in AAPI 
communities, empowering the economic growth of AAPI enterprises and 
communities, and increasing AAPI business diversification, including 
through general reductions in regulatory and tax burdens;

(iii) strategies for increasing Federal procurement opportunities for AAPI 
enterprises;

(iv) strategies for increasing participation of AAPI enterprises in 
partnerships between the public and private sectors;

(v) economic strategies for AAPI enterprises and communities to employ 
existing knowledge and relationships in order to pursue trade and 
investment opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region;

(vi) opportunities to empower students and families with the freedom to 
pursue the educational opportunities that best prepare them for success in 
life and work;

(vii) strategies for increasing the diversity of our workforce with greater 
inclusion of AAPI employees through better recruitment, training, 
educational workshops, career development, advancement, vocational 
training, or other appropriate and effective means;

(viii) the compilation and analysis of research and data related to AAPI 
populations, subpopulations, and businesses; and

(ix) an analysis of the economic condition of the United States Pacific 
Island territories and freely associated states in an effort to devise 
strategies for helping each island develop and maintain a strong and 
diversified economy that supports its residents.

                    (b) Membership of the Commission. The Commission 
                shall consist of members appointed by the President who 
                are United States citizens or nationals, or who are 
                citizens of the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the 
                Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia 
                who are subject to an applicable compact of free 
                association with the United States, and shall include 
                individuals having a history of engagement and 
                involvement with AAPI communities and enterprises. The 
                President shall designate one member of the Commission 
                to serve as Chair.
                    (c) Administration of the Commission. (i) The 
                Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the 
                Secretary of Transportation, shall designate an 
                Executive Director for the Commission. The Department 
                of Commerce shall provide funding and administrative 
                support for the Commission to the extent permitted by 
                law and within existing appropriations, and shall, as 
                necessary and appropriate under section 1535 of title 
                31, United States Code, enter into one or more 
                agreements to obtain goods or services from the 
                Department of Transportation in support of the 
                Commission. The heads of other executive departments 
                and agencies shall assist and provide information to 
                the Commission, consistent with applicable law, as may 
                be necessary to carry out its functions. Each executive 
                department and agency shall bear its own expenses of 
                assisting the Commission.

(ii) 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

[[Page 22323]]

of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, 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 prior to that date.

                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 Secretaries of Commerce and Transportation shall 
                serve as the Co-Chairs of the Initiative and shall 
                convene regular meetings of the Initiative, determine 
                its agenda, and direct its work pursuant to the 
                guidance and direction of the President. The Executive 
                Director established in section 2(c) of this order 
                shall serve in the same role for the Initiative and 
                shall report to the Co-Chairs, or their designees, on 
                Initiative matters.

                    (a) Mission and Function of the Initiative. The 
                Initiative shall work to broaden AAPI access to 
                economic resources and opportunities and thus empower 
                AAPIs to improve the quality of their lives, raise the 
                standard of living of their families and communities, 
                and more fully participate in our economy. The 
                Initiative shall advise the Co-Chairs on the 
                implementation and coordination of Federal programs as 
                they relate to AAPI access to economic resources and 
                opportunities.
                    (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 Health and Human Services;

(ix) the Department of Housing and Urban Development;

(x) the Department of Energy;

(xi) the Department of Education;

(xii) the Department of Veterans Affairs;

(xiii) the Department of Homeland Security;

(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;

(xxi) the White House Office of Public Liaison;

(xxii) the National Economic Council;

(xxiii) the Domestic Policy Council;

(xxiv) the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(xxv) the Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator; 
and

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(xxvi) other executive branch departments, agencies, and offices as the 
President may, from time to time, designate.

                The heads of each of the foregoing executive branch 
                departments, agencies, and offices shall designate the 
                senior Federal officials who will serve as their 
                respective representatives on the Initiative. 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. To the extent permitted by 
                law, members of the Initiative, or their designees, 
                shall devote the time, skill, and resources necessary 
                and adequate to carry out the functions of the 
                Initiative. Each executive department, agency, and 
                office shall bear its own expenses for participating in 
                the Initiative.

                    (c) Administration of the Initiative. The 
                Department of Commerce shall provide funding and 
                administrative support for the Initiative to the extent 
                permitted by law and within existing appropriations, 
                and shall, as necessary and appropriate under section 
                1535 of title 31, United States Code, enter into one or 
                more agreements to obtain goods or services from the 
                Department of Transportation in support of the 
                Initiative.

                Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) This order supersedes 
                section 1(s) of Executive Order 13811 of September 29, 
                2017 (Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory 
                Committees), and Executive Order 13515 of October 14, 
                2009 (Increasing Participation of Asian Americans and 
                Pacific Islanders in Federal Programs).

                    (b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to 
                impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the 
head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (c) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (d) For purposes of this order, the term ``Asian 
                American'' includes persons within the jurisdiction of 
                the United States having origins or ancestry in any of 
                the original peoples of East Asia, Southeast Asia, or 
                South Asia; and the term ``Pacific Islander'' includes 
                persons within the jurisdiction of the United States 
                having origins or ancestry in any of the original 
                peoples of Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, the 
                Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or other 
                Pacific Islands.

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                    (e) 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,

                    May 13, 2019.

[FR Doc. 2019-10398
Filed 5-15-19; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F9-P