Ramos bill would have Legislature apologize for historic wrongs to California Native peoples

Assemblymember James Ramos introduced AB 2,115 on the Assembly Judiciary Committee agenda, saying the bill would formally acknowledge the legislature's role in laws and actions that dispossessed and harmed California Native peoples and would request a plaque at the State Capitol memorializing the apology.

Kenneth Khan, tribal chairman of the San Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, testified in strong support, saying the bill "represents a necessary and overdue acknowledgement by the California legislature of its role in the historical mistreatment of California Native Americans." Several tribal nations and tribal organizations also voiced support during the hearing.

Ramos told the committee the apology is intended to recognize state actions from the 1850s onward that enabled violence, dispossession and policies that inflicted generational trauma, and to affirm a commitment to government-to-government relationships with tribal nations. He and supporters framed the bill as part of broader work on missing and murdered Indigenous people, suicide prevention and cultural preservation.

Members asked practical questions about the plaque request, including cost and form. One member noted the governor previously issued an executive apology in 2019 but said a legislative apology would be an institutional acknowledgement distinct from executive action.

Several members asked to be added as coauthors during the discussion and voiced unanimous support; the committee moved the measure to appropriations.

The committee made no changes to the bill's core apology language during the hearing. The next procedural step is appropriations, where members noted funding questions (the plaque) and implementation details would be addressed.