Increasing Economic Opportunity and Business Participation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Executive Order 13339 of May 13, 2004

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.

    (Presidential Sig.)B

THE WHITE HOUSE,

     May 13, 2004.