APA Asian Legislative Day & Inaugural Reception

Virginia has the longest serving General Assembly in the country. For the first time, we have 2 Asian American legislators in the General Assembly.  One of them is a Filipino American Ron Villanueva and Mark Keam, a Korean American. Another Asian American Bert Mizusawa, a Japanese American and a decorated General of the US Army, is running for the US Congress. On February 11, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza in Richmond, VA, over 30 Asian American organizations including FAACV and AASoCV, from around the Commonwealth held the 6th Asian Legislative Day.

A myriad of issues were tackled during the day with multiple Delegates and Senators. In the evening, a reception was held for the new Governor Bob McDonnell. Several of the PNAVA-RIC nurses were able to meet and introduce themselves to the Governor Bob McDonnell, First Lady Maureen McDonnell and other delegates both from the Republican and Democrat parties including Delegates Ron Villanueva and Mark Keam. On this occasion, attendees were able to express their concern to the Secretary of Education Gerard Robinson about the proposed school budget reduction in the local counties. Another concern that was relayed to other legislators was the fact that Asian business minorities are not getting enough piece of the pie with regards to getting state contracts. Delegate T. Scott Garrett, M.D. 23rd district was also present and verbalized his sensitivity to the shortage of nurses in the Virginia Commonwealth. He also attested to the important roles of the nurses being the backbone of the healthcare industry.

 More pictures from the even in the Gallery

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