The Asian-American community in Nevada asked state legislators to consider keeping the group together when it redraws the political map that would divide the population among electoral districts.
“This redistricting is important to us and we want to be heard when you do it,” Rozita Lee told a public hearing on the redistricting last April 2.
“This will help define how our key issues will be addressed,” she added during the meeting held in Las Vegas , which was the last of four public meetings. Prior meetings were held in Carson City , Fallon and Reno .
Lee, a Filipino community advocate and commissioner of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), told state senators and assemblymen at the meeting about the importance the group within the same district.
“In some states, the AAPI population was split into different districts. We trust this will not happen to us,” Lee told the panel.
This is so it would be easier to lobby for issues that directly affect this community, she noted. “This will define how our key issues will be addressed,” she said at the hearing.
After the fourth public hearing, the highly partisan work of redrawing the lines will be done at the state legislature behind closed doors. This redistricting in the 2011 legislative session will adjust the boundaries of its assembly and state districts.
Redistricting is done to ensure that each representative has roughly the same number of constituents, allowing each voter equal power at the ballot box. The process also has a political goal to redraw lines to protect incumbents from defeat by making majority of the population either more Republican or more Democrat.
Nevada posted the fastest growth among the US states in the past ten years, results of the 2010 Census showed. Data from the US Census Bureau showed the state’s population is now at 2.76 million, a 35% growth from the last count in 2000.
Of the state’s total population, some 242,916 are Asians. But the group registered the fastest growth at 116.5%, even outpacing the Hispanic population growth of 81.9%.
“A large part of Nevada ’s growth is because of AAPIs who chose to move here,” Lee told the panel of legislators at the public hearing.
“There a lot of professionals like doctors, dentists, teachers, college professors. There are casino workers. We also take care of your children and we fix your cars. We contribute to the Nevada economy,” she noted.
Meanwhile, the immense growth in Nevada ’s population also resulted in more political clout as the state gains another seat in Congress. A state’s representation in the 435-member House of Representatives determines how much funding it receives from the federal government. The census count also establishes the number of votes a state holds in the Electoral College and the strength of its voice on issues.
“As a small state, we need to fight to ensure Nevada receives its fair share of resources to create jobs, improve its struggling education system and keep families in their homes” US Sen. Harry Reid said in an earlier statement.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(Las Vegas April 7-13, 2011 Sec A pg.1)
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