Native American Day is now a paid state holiday in California, thanks to a bill proposed by an Inland Empire lawmaker.<\/p>\n
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill to create the holiday, which will be the fourth Friday of September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several other bills the governor signed \u2014 ahead of the Wednesday, Sept. 30, end-of-session deadline<\/a> \u2014 celebrate the diversity of California\u2019s Native American communities, formally apologize for past grievances, protect Indigenous children and push for equal opportunities for tribal members.<\/p>\n Newsom on Friday, Sept. 25, signed Assembly Bill 1841, from Assemblymember James Ramos, D-San Bernardino.\u00a0The law recognizes \u201cthe role Native communities have played in shaping the state\u2019s culture and identity,\u201d a\u00a0news release states<\/a>.<\/p>\n Though the day has been an official state holiday since 1998, it will now be paid.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a reminder that Native people were the first stewards and inhabitants of this land we call California,\u201d Ramos said in a statement. \u201cIt also serves as a small acknowledgement of the atrocities they endured and the resiliency they demonstrated in the face of adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n Ramos, who is the first and only California Native American elected to the state legislature<\/a>, is a member of the Serrano\/Cahuilla tribe, and grew up on the reservation of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which in 2025 changed its formal name to the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation,<\/a> a return to the tribe\u2019s ancestral name.<\/p>\n Similar bills by Ramos that Newsom signed Friday include:<\/p>\n AB 31<\/a> \u2014 Makes the Tribal Police Program permanent and indefinitely extends the program. In 2022, Ramos pushed the California Indian Education Act<\/a> \u2014 also signed by Newsom \u2014 which allows county offices of education and charter schools to work with tribes to teach Native American curriculum and identify achievement gaps among Native American students.<\/p>\n Ramos said the Rowena Mae Ramos Act builds on the governor\u2019s historic first formal apology to Native Americans in 2019<\/a>, but is the first time the state legislature and courts have apologized. He cited California\u2019s \u201cwar of extermination\u201d against Native tribes in the mid-1800s, when tribes were\u00a0removed from their land and state laws made separating families easier.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we can never undo the wrongs of the past, the State has a responsibility to confront them with honesty,\u201d he said in the release.<\/p>\n Other laws signed Friday support recognition of and opportunities for Indigenous groups.<\/p>\n AB 1641<\/a>,\u00a0by Inland Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley, recognizes state tribal colleges and universities<\/a> as an official part of California\u2019s public higher education system.<\/p>\n
\nAB 1592<\/a> \u2014 Supports the California Indian Heritage Center, run through a partnership between state parks\u00a0and a tribal support organization.
\nAB 1769<\/a> \u2014 Requires the California State University and community colleges, and asks the University of California, to create transfer agreements and programs to support California tribal college students.
\nAB 1824<\/a> \u2014Strengthens the tribal notice, family-preservation, placement and legal representation protections in guardianship or conservatorship cases involving Native American children.
\nAB 2115<\/a> \u2014 The state\u2019s formal apology called the Rowena Mae Ramos\u00a0Act, which \u201crecognizes and accepts responsibility for all of the harms and atrocities,\u201d including \u201cenforced policies\u201d and state-backed violence, against California Native Americans.
\nAB 2187<\/a>\u00a0 \u2014 Grants federal tribe contracting authority, exempting \u201cstate service contracts that only a federally recognized California tribe can perform from covered advertising and competitive-bidding requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n