California’s Native American Day is set to become a paid holiday for state workers under legislation signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n
AB 1841 would make Native American Day<\/a>, observed each year on the fourth Friday of September, a paid holiday for state employees once lawmakers provide funding for it.<\/p>\n Newsom said in a statement that the legislation reflects California’s reckoning with its treatment of Native people and its efforts to build a stronger relationship with tribes.<\/p>\n “We have great remorse over the violent beginnings of this state [and] a strong commitment to forging a better path forward together,” Newsom said.<\/p>\n Native American Day itself is not new. California has recognized the fourth Friday of September as a legal holiday<\/a>\u00a0since 1998.<\/p>\n What changes under AB 1841 is how the day is treated for state workers.<\/p>\n Until now, Native American Day has not been a regular paid holiday for most state workers. Employees have instead been allowed to use personal-holiday credit to take the day off.<\/p>\n California courts already close for Native American Day. A 2021 law made it a judicial holiday beginning in 2022, replacing Columbus Day on the court calendar<\/a>\u00a0without adding another paid day off for court employees.<\/p>\n AB 1841, authored by Assemblymember James Ramos, also allows state bargaining units to negotiate Native American Day as a paid holiday. The broader statewide benefit would still require funding from the Legislature.<\/p>\n The measure was part of a package of laws Newsom signed Friday involving California tribes.<\/p>\n “The additional bills signed today advance important policies in higher education, protecting Indian children, and continuing to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis,” Ramos said in a statement.<\/p>\n The package also included a bill extending the state’s formal apology for historical violence<\/a>\u00a0and other harms against Native Americans to the Legislature and courts, along with a separate law making the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs permanent.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n