AAPI is the Only Ethnic Group in Ohio Without a State-Level Commission

According to the Ohio Development Agency, there are over 345,000 Asian Americans, and over 21,000 Asian American-owned businesses in Ohio, which provide 64,000 jobs and generate $11 billion revenue for the Ohio economy. However, Ohio Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have been facing a number of challenges that need to be addressed, including racial hate, poverty, language barriers, health disparities, and lack of voter engagement. This requires a state budget funded AAPI Affairs Commission, which would be a step up from the Ohio AAPI Advisory council established in 2012 by Governor Ted Strckland, and was re-appointed by Governor John Kasich. The founding chair of the Ohio AAPI Advisory Council is Dr. Yung-Chen Lu, also the founder of the Asian Festival in Columbus.

Since Governor Mike DeWine took office in January 2019, he has not re-appointed the AAPI Advisory Council, and initiated discussions about establishing an AAPI Affairs Commission. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are the only ethnic group in Ohio without a state-level commission.

In early 2020, Senator Tina Maharath (D-Canal Winchester), the first Asian American woman elected to the Ohio General Assembly, introduced Senate Bill 98, which would have created the Ohio Asian-American and Pacific Islander Affairs Commission and the Office of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Affairs, but the bill was voted out of the Senate Finance Committee on March 3, 2020.

In February 2021, Sen. Maharath and Sen. Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg), the first Indian American to serve in the Ohio Senate, introduced Senate Bill 87 to establish the AAPI Affairs Commission, with a proposed annual budget of $440,944 per fiscal year. In June, the bill went through its first hearing within the Government Oversight and Reform Committee but no action has been taken yet.

In May 2021, at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Dr. Yung-Chen Lu, founder of the Asian Festival, Angela Dawson of Ohio Commission of Minority Health and several AAPI community leaders testified to support a budget amendment to fund the AAPI Affairs Commission. However, the Committee eventually decided not to include the amendment.

In July 2021, Sen. Maharath sent a letter to Governor DeWine to share the contents of SB 87, and urge him to establish the Ohio AAPI Affairs Commission through executive order.

In August 2021, Asian Festival and thirty-three Ohio AAPI community organizations, and four former Ohio AAPI Advisory Council members sent a joint letter to Governor DeWine urging him to support establishing the AAPI Affairs Commission, and requesting a meeting with the governor. However, the governor‘s office said he did not plan to do that, and instead would support AAPI via existing boards and commissions. However, the governor office was unable to provide details on how this would work.

In September, Asian Services in Action (ASIA) organized community members to submit short videos to uplift advocacy for AAPI Affairs Commission. There seems to be a lot more work to do in advocacy among government branches, and at grassroots level to make the Ohio AAPI Affairs Commission a reality.