Biden To Sign Rep Meng's Hate Crimes Act Into Law On Thursday

QUEENS — A bill aimed at better addressing the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans amid the pandemic got one step closer to becoming law on Tuesday, when it overwhelmingly passed the House, clearing the legislation for President Biden's signature.

The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act was approved by the House in a 364-62 vote following the Senate's nearly unanimous vote of approval in April, and is now heading to President Biden, who plans to sign the bill into law on Thursday, according to a news release by U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) of Queens on Wednesday.

Rep. Meng, who reintroduced at the beginning of March with Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), told PIXII on Tuesday that "this bill is just one part of a long road ahead," noting the anti-Asian hate crimes that have continued to occur in New York as recently as Tuesday.

"In order to properly find solutions for this issue we need to have a better understanding of what's going on around the country," she said of the bill's important, pointing out that most local jurisdictions don't currently report hate crimes to the federal government, and that the hate crimes themselves are vastly underreported as well — issues that the bill aims to address.

From March 2020 to March 2021 there have been over 6,600 reports of anti-AAPI acts of violence, over two-thirds of which were reported by women, according to a national report authored by the non-profit Stop AAPI Hate.

But, as Rep. Meng pointed out "those are just the reported numbers," and "it should not be up to one generous non-profit organization to collect statistics for the entire country to use."

The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act would create a position at the Department of Justice to more quickly review COVID-19-related hate crimes, and expand the channels for reporting and preventing these cases, including online reporting available in multiple languages and efforts led by community-based organizations.

"Government needs to have a better sense of what's going on," she told PIXII, noting that her bill would incorporate the federal government in a national effort to track and report anti-AAPI hate crimes.