Pelosi forsees May vote on COVID hate crimes bill

Speaking to San Francisco's API Council, an organization of Asian and Pacific Islanders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted the House would vote on hate crimes legislation in May.

"This is pretty fast for legislation when we have a whole backlog of things that we need to do regarding the pandemic and the rest," Pelosi said. "But we're giving it priority and moving it forward."

The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D) Hawaii and by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) in the House.

It seeks to address the rise of hate crime targeted at Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) by assigning a point person at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to expedite the review of COVID-19-related hate crimes.

The legislation also provides assistance for state and local law enforcement agencies to respond to these hate crimes, and it aims to mitigate racially discriminatory language used to describe the pandemic.

"From my experience on hate crimes in general, whether it's against LGBTQ, AAPI or whatever, what is important is that we can document what happened," she said.

The perpetrator's language of hate is critical.

"Somebody has to write it down," Pelosi said. "So it is a testimony to the fact that this was a hate crime."