For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 13, 2004
Executive Order
Increasing Economic Opportunity and Business Participation 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 for the purpose of
providing equal economic opportunities for full participation of Asian
American and Pacific Islander businesses in our free market economy
where they may be underserved and thus improving the quality of life
for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, it is hereby ordered as
follows:
Section 1. (a) There is established in the Department of Commerce
the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders (Commission). The Commission shall consist of not more than
15 members appointed by the President, one of whom shall be designated
by the President as Chair. The Commission shall include members who:
(i) have a history of involvement with the Asian American and Pacific
Islander communities; (ii) are from the business enterprise sector;
(iii) are from civic associations representing one or more of the
diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander communities; (iv) are from
the fields of economic, social, and community development; or (v) have
such other experience as the President deems appropriate.
(b) The Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) shall designate an
Executive Director for the Commission.
Sec. 2. The Commission shall provide advice to the President,
through the Secretary, on:
(a) the development, monitoring, and coordination of executive
branch efforts to improve the economic and community development of
Asian American and Pacific Islander businesses through ensuring equal
opportunity to participate in Federal programs, and public-sector,
private-sector partnerships, and through the collection of data related
to Asian American and Pacific Islander businesses; and
(b) ways to increase the business diversification of Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders, including ways to foster research and
data on Asian American and Pacific Islander businesses including their
level of participation in the national economy and their economic and
community development.
Sec. 3. (a) The Secretary shall establish within the Department of
Commerce an office known as the White House Initiative on Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders (Office). The Office shall provide
support for the Commission and the interagency working group created in
section 3(b) of this order.
(b) The Secretary shall also create an interagency working group
(Working Group) whose activities shall be coordinated by the Department
of Commerce. The Secretary shall designate the executive departments
and agencies that shall serve on the Working Group (executive
departments and agencies) and the heads of those departments and
agencies shall select the officials that shall serve as their
respective representatives on the Working Group. The Executive
Director of the Commission shall also serve as the Director of the
Office and the Working Group, and shall report to the Secretary or the
Secretary's designee. The Director of the Working Group shall advise
the Secretary or the Secretary's designee on efforts by the Federal
Government to improve access to economic opportunities, through equal
access to such opportunities, for Asian American and Pacific Islander
businesses where they may be underserved and thus to improve the
quality of life of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Sec. 4. The head of each executive department and agency on the
Working Group shall designate a senior Federal official responsible for
management or program administration to report directly to the agency
head on activities implementing this order and to serve as a liaison
to, and representative on, the Working Group. The Secretary may
designate additional Federal officials, with the concurrence of the
head of the designated executive department or agency, to carry out
functions of the Working Group. To the extent permitted by law and to
the extent practicable, each designated executive department and agency
shall provide appropriate information requested by the Working Group,
including data relating to the eligibility for and participation of
Asian American and Pacific Islander businesses in Federal programs.
Where adequate data are not available, the Working Group shall suggest
the means of collecting such data.
Sec. 5. Each designated executive department and agency shall
prepare a plan for, and shall document, its efforts to support economic
opportunities for Asian American and Pacific Islander businesses. This
plan shall address, among other things, executive branch efforts to:
(a) increase participation in Federal programs for Asian American
and Pacific Islander businesses through equal access to such programs;
(b) ensure nondiscrimination in Federal contracts and procurement
opportunities;
(c) provide equal opportunity for public-sector, private-sector
partnerships for the community and economic development of Asian
American and Pacific Islander businesses; and
(d) foster research and data collection on Asian American and
Pacific Islander businesses. Each plan shall be submitted through the
working group and the Commission to the Secretary at a date to be
established by the Secretary.
Sec. 6. The Secretary shall review the plans of the designated
executive departments and agencies and develop for submission to the
President for his approval an integrated Federal plan (Federal Plan) to
increase the participation of Asian American and Pacific Islander
businesses in executive branch programs through equal access to such
programs where such organizations may be underserved. Actions
described in the Federal Plan shall address improving access by Asian
American and Pacific Islander businesses to Federal programs and
fostering advances in relevant research and data as it pertains to
community economic development. The Secretary shall disseminate the
Federal Plan, to the extent the Plan is approved by the President, to
appropriate members of the executive branch. The findings and
recommendations in the Federal Plan shall be followed by the designated
executive departments and agencies in their policies and activities, to
the extent permitted by law and as practicable.
Sec. 7. Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended
(5 U.S.C. App.) (the "Act"), may apply to the administration of any
portion of this order, any functions of the President under the Act,
except that of reporting to the Congress, shall be performed by the
Secretary in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Administrator
of General Services.
Sec. 8. 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). To the
extent permitted by law and appropriations, and where practicable,
executive departments and agencies shall, upon request by the
Secretary, provide assistance to the Commission and to the Working
Group, and the Department of Commerce shall provide administrative
support and funding for the Commission.
Sec. 9. The Commission shall terminate 2 years from the date of
this order, unless renewed by the President.
Sec. 10. For the purposes of this order, the term: (a) "Asian"
includes persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the
Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent; and the term (b)
"Pacific Islander" includes persons having origins in any of the
original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
Sec. 11. The Secretary of Commerce shall consult the Attorney
General as appropriate on the implementation of this order to ensure
that such implementation affords the equal protection of the laws
required by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution.
Sec. 12. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in
equity, by a party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other
person.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 13, 2004.
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