California Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) will be awarded the AsAmNews Bad Ass Asian Lifetime Community Service Award Saturday in Emeryville.

Ting is being recognized for his 12 years in the California State Assembly, eight of those as chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.

During that time, the state passed a massive $160 million AAPI Equity Budget in response to the rapid rise of anti-Asian hate and racism that swept the country beginning with the pandemic.

Part of that money included $10 million for ethnic media. AsAmNews received two grants over two years of $100,000 which enabled us to establish ourselves as a non-profit and begin hiring a full-time staff.

Ting will enter his last full month in the Assembly next month after 12 years in the state legislature as he is being termed out. He has not yet publicly announced his future plans.

“As a California lawmaker, my goal has been to improve the lives of Californians,” he said in an email to AsAmNews. “The pandemic highlighted the need for more state investment in AAPI communities, and I’m proud to have successfully delivered on much needed resources, services and programs – many of which are provided with cultural sensitivity and in several languages.”

Prior to his time in the legislature, he spent eight years as San Francisco’s County Assessor. There he audited the foreclosure of 400 homes in the city during the mortgage meltdown, finding irregularities and legal violations in 80% of the cases.

The findings lead the state legislature to push for legal oversight of the mortgage industry.

Ting also served as executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, a civil rights organization founded in 1972 to provide legal services to the Asian American community.

“We are happy to recognize the Assemblymember for his dedication to bettering our community,” said Randall Yip, Founder & Editor of AsAmNews. “Being a politician can be a thankless job and its important that we attract good people to this noble profession.”

“I thank AsAmNews for recognizing my years-long fight in bringing funding and policy equity into our discussions in Sacramento,” Ting said.

Tickets for the awards dinner and the preceding Common Ground conference can be purchased until 3 p.m. Pacific Time today, October 25.

You can hear Yip speak about the conference in this interview with KRON4.

AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.

We value your feedback. Last day to fill out our two-minute survey by October 25.

Join us for a stimulating conference about issues that divide the Asian American communities. Our fundraiser Common Ground and the dinner after will be held October 26 at UC Berkeley. Deadline to register is Friday at 3 p.m. Pacific Time.

Then purchase your tickets to Up Close with Connie Chung, America’s first Asian American to anchor a nightly network newscast. The in-depth conversation with Connie will be held November 14 at 7:30 at Columbia University’s Milbank Chapel in the Teacher’s College. All proceeds benefit AsAmNews.

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