Asian Americans, the nation's fastest-growing group, are winning political power in California and beyond

In July, California approved the groundbreaking Asian Pacific Islander Equity Budget, a $156.5 million package with victim support and mental health initiatives designed to counter decades of anti-Asian American racism and a spike in hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That expenditure, the largest amount by far of any state passing similar legislation, is the latest symbol of the growing influence of California's 6 million Asian Americans.