Relevant Legislation
For most of California’s existence, the factual accounts of tribal cultures, histories and contemporary life were largely unknown outside of native communities. Within the last two decades, California Indian people have engaged in the legislative process, bringing greater recognition to the unique identities and issues that define the state’s First Peoples. Click on the links below to learn more about bills affecting native people.
This bill added participation in a cultural ceremony or event to the list of reasons that a pupil must be excused from school.
This bill established a task force to gather information and develop recommendations that will address how to comprehensively implement all aspects of existing law related to wearing traditional tribal regalia or recognized objects of religious or cultural.
This bill created the "Feather Alert" to enlist public assistance to quickly find Native Americans missing under suspicious circumstances.
This bill encourages local educational agencies and charter schools to form California Indian Education task forces to develop curricular materials on the history, culture and government of local tribes, and requires the task forces to submit a report of findings to the California Department of Education.
This bill allows the University of California, Hastings College of the Law to remove the name of its notorious founder from the school’s name and specifying restorative justice measures to benefit the Yuki and Round Valley Indian people.
This bill adds “for the purposes of participating in a cultural ceremony or event” to the list of categories of excused absences for school attendance.
This bill establishes a task force to: (1) hear the testimony of Californians who have been denied the right to wear traditional tribal regalia or recognized objects of religious or cultural significance at high school graduations; and (2) make recommendations for policies and practices to ensure that such denials do not recur.
This bill would require social studies curricula for grades 3, 4, 8, and 11 to include significant material on the history and culture of California Native Americans.