[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 212 (Thursday, November 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66312-66314]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-23876]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Announcement of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian 
Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders Meeting and 
Solicitation for Written Comment

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the 
Secretary, Office for Civil Rights, White House Initiative on Asian 
Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

ACTION: Notice of meeting and solicitation for written comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: As required by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hereby giving notice 
that the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native 
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders will hold a virtual, two-day meeting 
on December 5 and December 6, 2022.

DATES: The Commission will meet on December 5, 2022, and December 6, 
2022, from 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) to approximately 7:00 p.m. ET on 
both days. The confirmed time and agenda will be posted on the website 
for the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native 
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: https://www.hhs.gov/about/whiaanhpi/commission/index.html when this information becomes available.
    Written comments, in response to the questions listed below, will 
be accepted via email at [email protected] with the subject line 
``PACAANHPI: Response to .'' To be 
assured consideration in the development of future recommendations, 
written comments must be submitted and received at the email address 
provided above, no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 1, 
2022. Submissions received after the deadline will not be reviewed.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be live streamed. Registration is required 
through the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meeting-of-the-presidents-advisory-commission-on-aa-and-nhpis-registration-449829250397.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caroline Goon, Designated Federal

[[Page 66313]]

Officer, President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native 
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services, Office of the Secretary, Office for Civil Rights, Hubert H. 
Humphrey Building, Room 515F, 200 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 
20201; email: [email protected]; telephone: (202) 619-0403, fax: 
(202) 619-3818.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The meeting is the fourth in a series of 
Federal advisory committee meetings regarding the development of 
recommendations to promote equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian 
American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) 
communities. The meeting is open to the public and will be live 
streamed. The Commission, co-chaired by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra 
and the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, will advise 
the President on: the development, monitoring, and coordination of 
executive branch efforts to advance equity, justice, and opportunity 
for AA and NHPI communities in the United States, including efforts to 
close gaps in health, socioeconomic, employment, and educational 
outcomes; policies to address and end anti-Asian bias, xenophobia, 
racism, and nativism, and opportunities for the executive branch to 
advance inclusion, belonging, and public awareness of the diversity and 
accomplishments of AA and NHPI people, cultures, and histories; 
policies, programs, and initiatives to prevent, report, respond to, and 
track anti-Asian hate crimes and hate incidents; ways in which the 
Federal Government can build on the capacity and contributions of AA 
and NHPI communities through equitable Federal funding, grantmaking, 
and employment opportunities; policies and practices to improve 
research and equitable data disaggregation regarding AA and NHPI 
communities; policies and practices to improve language access services 
to ensure AA and NHPI communities can access Federal programs and 
services; and strategies to increase public-and private-sector 
collaboration, and community involvement in improving the safety and 
socioeconomic, health, educational, occupational, and environmental 
well-being of AA and NHPI communities.
    Information is available on the President's Advisory Commission on 
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders website at 
https://www.hhs.gov/about/whiaanhpi/commission/index.html. The names of 
the 25 members of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian 
Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders are available at 
https://www.hhs.gov/about/whiaanhpi/commission/commissioners/index.html.
    Purpose of Meeting: The President's Advisory Commission on Asian 
Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, authorized by 
Executive Order 14031, will meet to discuss full and draft 
recommendations by the Commission's six Subcommittees on ways to 
advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian American, Native 
Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. The Subcommittees are: 
Belonging, Inclusion, Anti-Asian Hate, Anti-Discrimination; Data 
Disaggregation; Language Access; Economic Equity; Health Equity; and 
Immigration and Citizenship Status.
    Background: Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander 
communities are among the fastest growing racial and ethnic populations 
in the United States according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, in 
recent years, AA and NHPI individuals have faced increasing hate crimes 
and incidents that threaten their safety, as well as harmful 
stereotypes that often ignore socioeconomic, health, and educational 
disparities impacting these diverse communities.
    Tragic acts of anti-Asian violence increased during the COVID-19 
pandemic, casting a shadow of fear and grief over many AA and NHPI 
communities, in particular East Asian communities. Long before this 
pandemic, AA and NHPI communities in the United States, including South 
Asian and Southeast Asian communities, have faced persistent 
xenophobia, religious discrimination, racism, and violence. At the same 
time, AA and NHPI communities are overrepresented in the pandemic's 
essential workforce in healthcare, food supply, education, and 
childcare, with more than four million AA and NHPIs manning the 
frontlines throughout the pandemic.
    Many AA and NHPI communities, and in particular Native Hawaiian and 
Pacific Islander communities, have also been disproportionately 
burdened by the COVID-19 public health crisis. Evidence suggests that 
Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are three times more likely to 
contract COVID-19 compared to white people and nearly twice as likely 
to die from the disease. On top of these health inequities, many AA and 
NHPI workers, families, and small businesses have faced devastating 
economic losses during this crisis, which must be addressed.
    The challenges AA and NHPI communities face are often exacerbated 
by a lack of adequate data disaggregation and language access. The 
President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, 
and Pacific Islanders works to advise the President on executive branch 
efforts to address these challenges and advance equity, justice, and 
opportunity for AA and NHPI communities.
    Public Participation at Meeting: Members of the public are invited 
to view the Commission meeting. Registration is required through the 
following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meeting-of-the-presidents-advisory-commission-on-aa-and-nhpis-registration-449829250397. Please 
note that there will be no opportunity for oral public comments during 
the meeting of the Commission. However, written comments are welcomed 
throughout the development of the Commission's recommendations to 
promote equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian Americans, Native 
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders and may be emailed to 
[email protected] at any time. Respond concisely and in plain 
language. You may use any structure or layout that presents your 
information well. You may respond to some or all of our questions, and 
you can suggest other factors or relevant questions. You may also 
include links to online material or interactive presentations. Clearly 
mark any proprietary information and place it in its own section or 
file. Your response will become Government property, and we may publish 
some of its non-proprietary content.
    The Commission is particularly interested in soliciting written 
comments on the following questions:
    1. Belonging, Inclusion, Anti-Asian Hate, Anti-Discrimination 
Subcommittee Questions:
    a. Please describe policies, programs, models, or best practices 
that have been effective in reducing race-based violence or bias 
targeting AA and NHPI communities, including any programs geared toward 
children or youth.
    b. What policies, programs, models, or best practices, if any, have 
reduced incidents of gun violence in AA and NHPI communities?
    c. What barriers have AA and NHPI military servicemembers faced in 
seeking religious accommodations from their respective branch of the 
U.S. military?
    2. Data Disaggregation Subcommittee Questions:
    a. What datasets do AA and NHPI communities identify as being

[[Page 66314]]

particularly important for the Federal Government to prioritize for 
disaggregated data collection, analysis, and reporting?
    b. How can existing Federal Government datasets be improved in 
terms of questions, survey structures, categories, collection 
methodology, data accessibility, and more in order to better serve 
community-based organizations and ensure that AA and NHPI population 
data is useful for further analysis?
    c. What are some ideas on how the Federal Government can better 
partner with community-based organizations, think tanks, and academic 
institutions for secondary data analysis?
    3. Language Access Subcommittee Questions:
    a. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires recipients of 
Federal financial assistance to provide meaningful access to their 
programs to people who are limited English proficient (LEP). How can 
the Federal Government ensure that recipients of Federal financial 
assistance conduct effective outreach to LEP communities, provide 
language access and support AAPI LEP communities, including those that 
speak languages of lesser diffusion? Examples, models, or promising 
practices are welcomed.
    b. Executive Order 13166, Improving Access to Services for Persons 
with Limited English Proficiency, requires the Federal Government to 
provide LEP individuals with meaningful access to federally-conducted 
programs and activities. Each Federal agency was also asked under 
Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for 
Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, to identify 
potential barriers that underserved communities and individuals may 
face to enrollment in and access to benefits and services in Federal 
programs. Given the Federal Government's commitment to language access 
and racial equity, how can the Federal Government better conduct 
outreach to and address the needs of AA and NHPI LEP communities, 
including those that speak languages of lesser diffusion? Examples, 
models, or promising practices are welcomed.
    c. How can the Federal Government promote the preservation, 
teaching, learning of, maintenance and utilization of AA and NHPI 
languages?
    4. Immigration and Citizenship Status Subcommittee Questions:
    a. What information should the U.S. Department of Homeland 
Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) prioritize 
for translation, and what Asian and Pacific Islander languages should 
be prioritized?
    b. What are some ways for the U.S. Department of Homeland 
Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to improve 
cultural sensitivity, equity, and language access in their interactions 
with the AAPI community?
    c. How should the Federal Government improve access to humanitarian 
protections, such as asylum and victim protections for AAPI community 
members?
    d. The citizens of the Freely Associated States of Palau, the 
Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia may live, 
study, and work in the United States and its territories without a 
visa. This arrangement is pursuant to compact treaties signed with 
these countries and in recognition of the special relationship they 
have with the United States. They are lawful residents and do not have 
immigrant status nor are they eligible to apply for permanent resident 
status. They are currently eligible for some Federal programs but not 
others. For example, they are eligible for the Women Infant and 
Children's Program (WIC), but not SNAP (Food Stamps). Please provide 
examples of the ways in which this lack of access to Federal benefits 
and programs has impacted citizens from the Freely Associated States?
    e. Please provide input and recommendations on ways to reduce the 
burden on individuals and families subject to long-term orders of 
supervision following final orders of removal. Many Asian Americans and 
Pacific Islanders have final orders of removal and continue to live in 
the United States on orders of supervision. For example, some 
individuals have been required to check-in with U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement (ICE), sometimes yearly or more frequently, for 
over 20 years. Each ICE field office has the authority to decide the 
frequency of check-ins for an individual on an order of supervision, 
resulting in often burdensome and traumatic, non-uniform check-in 
schedules.
    i. How do the current validity periods for Employment Authorization 
Documents (EAD) affect individuals with a long-term order of 
supervision? How would extending the validity period for EADs issued to 
this population impact their livelihood?
    ii. What positive equities should ICE consider in determining 
removals and in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion?
    Authority: Executive Order 14031. The President's Advisory 
Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders 
(Commission) is governed by provisions of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (FACA), Public Law 92-463, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), 
which sets forth standards for the formation and use of Federal 
advisory committees.

Krystal Ka`ai,
Executive Director, White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native 
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, President's Advisory Commission on 
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
[FR Doc. 2022-23876 Filed 11-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4153-01-P