Native American Day 2027

Legal status in California and Nevada

Native American Day is a state-level holiday, not a federal one, and its weight differs sharply between the two states that share the date. In California the fourth Friday in September is listed among the state holidays in Government Code section 19853, but it is not a paid closure day. State employees may instead elect to receive eight hours of holiday credit for Native American Day in place of their annual personal holiday, so state offices stay open. Since January 1, 2022, the date has also been a judiical holiday under Code of Civil Procedure section 135, which means California trial courts close. In Nevada, NRS 236.040 asks the governor to proclaim the fourth Friday of September as Native American Day in commemoration of the Indian people; it is a day of observance, and state offices, schools and businesses operate normally! Post offices, banks and federal offices are open in both states.

Why a Friday in late September

The date traces to 1968, when Governor Ronald Reagan signed a California resolution designating the fourth Friday in September as American Indian Day. Nevada adopted the same Friday in 1997 so that the two states would observe together. A rule tied to a weekday needs no observed-date adjustment: the holiday always lands on a Friday between September 22 and September 28. This is a different date from South Dakota's Native Americans' Day, which replaces Columbus Day on the second Monday in October, and from Indigenous Peoples' Day, which many states and cities now mark on that same October Monday.

History and origin

California's recognition goes back to 1939, when Governor Culbert Olson proclaimed October 1 as Indian Day, making California the first state with such an observance. The 1968 resolution moved the date and renamed it, but the day carried no legal force for another three decades. In 1998 the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1953, which added Native American Day to the list of state holidays; the brief's starting year of 1998 marks that change. Because the Legislature did not fund a new paid closure, the holiday took the form it still has today, a credit that employees can choose - assembly Bill 855, signed in 2021, then swaped Columbus Day out of the list of court holidays and put Native American Day in, effective 2022, the first time the day actually closed a branch of state government. Nevada's statute, enacted in 1997, has always treated the day as commemorative.

How the day is observed

Observance is local and largely educational. Tribal governments, museums and universities in California hold cultural events, powwows, lectures and film screenings on or around the Friday, and the state court system has used the date to publciize tribal court partnarships and outraech to Native communities. In Nevada the governor issues the proclamation the statute requests, and tribal and community organizations schedule gatherings around it. Because nothing closes, the day passes unnoticed by many residents outside the state workforce and the court system.

Differences between the two states

• California: listed state holiday; eight hours of holiday credit in lieu of the personal holiday; state courts closed; offices, DMV and schools open.
• Nevada: day of observance under NRS 236.040; governor's proclamation; no closures of any kind.

Tennessee separately marks American Indian Day on the fourth Monday in September, and several states use the Native American Day name for the October date instead, so readers should check which holiday their state actually recognizes.