Press Release

Coalition Of Asian Pacific Americans for Fair Redistricting (CAPAFR) Unveils California Assembly

Northern California:	Southern California:
11:30 am	*10:00 am*
Oakland City Hall, Hearing Room 3	Asian Pacific American Legal Center
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza	1145 Wilshire Blvd., 2^nd Floor Library
(Between 14th and Broadway)	Los Angeles, CA 90017
Oakland, CA

LOS ANGELES — The Asian Pacific American population in California increased by 53.8% from 2.8 to nearly 4.4 million. Despite being the fastest growing racial group in the United States and California according to new Census 2000 data, Asian Pacific Americans remain underrepresented in the political system. Yet, throughout the state, there are examples of cohesive Asian Pacific American communities of interest cut up by district lines at every level of government - Congressional, state, county, and local. While California’s Asian Pacific Americans are 13% of the total population, only 4 out of 120 state representatives are of Asian Pacific American descent (Wilma Chan, Judy Chu, Carol Liu, and George Nakano).

Asian Pacific American community organizations and individuals in nine regions around the state have organized a statewide collaborative, called Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans for Fair Redistricting (CAPAFR). The nine regions include representation from the counties of: Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara. With support from the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, CAPAFR has engaged in discussions about the Asian Pacific American community’s participation in the redistricting process, how to enhance better representation of the many unique communities of interest in California, and what changes to existing state Assembly lines are necessary to remove the dilutive effect on the Asian Pacific American community’s voting strength.

CAPAFR will be unveiling its statewide California Assembly map on August 9, 2001. This map will represent a careful balance of various redistricting principles, including the one person - one vote principle, the regional priorities identified in regional CAPAFR discussions, consideration of Latino and African American community interests, in-depth analyses of communities of interest factors, respect for city and community boundaries, and political and other interests. This map will be formally submitted to the state legislature on August 15, 2001.