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California is on the verge of potentially designating another paid holiday for its state employees, as legislators advocate for the formal recognition of Native American Day. Proponents of this initiative emphasize its connection to the state’s violent past with Indigenous populations and align it with Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2019 acknowledgment of what he termed a “genocide” against Native Americans.
The initiative, spearheaded by Assemblymember James Ramos, D-Highland, achieved significant progress last week. The Assembly Appropriations Committee gave their unanimous approval for the proposal, which aims to establish Native American Day as a fully paid state holiday, observed on the fourth Friday of September.
Ramos, the first Native American to serve in California’s Legislature, articulated that the legislation is designed to address the state’s troubling history and pay tribute to the tribal communities within California.
“The majority of Californians remain unaware of the brutal history that shaped this state,” Ramos stated. “They often envision romanticized views of missions, the Gold Rush, and the Transcontinental Railroad, rather than acknowledging the genocide, violence, enslavement, and displacement experienced by Native Americans.”
This legislative effort follows six years after Governor Newsom’s formal apology to Native Americans on California’s behalf. In conjunction with this apology, Newsom signed an executive order to create a Truth and Healing Council, tasked with reviewing the historical treatment of tribal communities in the state.
During remarks at the time, Newsom said the atrocities committed against Native Americans amounted to a “genocide.”
“California must reckon with our dark history,” Newsom said in 2019. “California Native American peoples suffered violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by state government throughout its history.”
California is currently home to more than 100 federally recognized tribes.
Historians estimate the Native population in the region exceeded 300,000 before European settlement expanded through the state in the late 18th century.
According to the California Native American Heritage Commission, disease and settler violence devastated those communities in the years that followed.
Ramos noted that between 1851 and 1859, the California State Controller paid out $1.3 million for military expeditions targeting Native Americans.
Former Gov. Peter Burnett infamously described the campaigns as a “war of extermination”
“And that figure doesn’t begin to capture the loss of life, the enslavement of Native families, the destruction of sacred sites and cultural items, the occupation of homelands, and the countless other atrocities committed against California’s First People,” Ramos said.
Native American Day is already recognized as an elective holiday for state workers, alongside observances such as Diwali, Juneteenth, Lunar New Year and Genocide Remembrance Day.
Ramos’ legislation would move it into the state’s official paid holiday calendar alongside Christmas, Thanksgiving and Independence Day.
This year, the holiday falls on Sept. 25.
A legislative analysis estimates the additional paid holiday would cost California about $16.3 million annually.
The proposal would only take effect if the California Department of Human Resources determines the state has enough funding and reaches agreements with labor unions.
SEIU Local 1000, representing nearly 100,000 workers, backed the measure, arguing California must fully acknowledge its history before addressing modern inequities.