AB 1881

AB1881:v97#DOCUMENT

Bill Start

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1881

An act to amend Section 7930.205 of the Government Code, and to add Chapter 1.79 (commencing with Section 5097.1000) to Division 5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to California Indians.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1881, as amended, Ramos. California Indian Freedom Act of 2026.

Existing law establishes various protections for California Native American tribes, including prohibiting a public agency or private party using or occupying public property or operating on public property from interfering with the free expression or exercise of Native American religion as provided in the United States Constitution and the California Constitution. Existing law also requires a local government to provide formal notification to each California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the project site as an invitation to consult on the proposed project, as provided. Existing law requires the local government, during the consultation, to give deference to the tribal information, tribal knowledge and customs, and the significance of the resource to the California Native American tribe. Existing law prohibits any information, as described, that is submitted by a California Native American tribe during the environmental review process from being included in the environmental document or otherwise disclosed by the lead agency or any other public agency to the public, as specified, without the prior consent of the tribe that provided the information.

Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires each state and local agency, as defined, to make its records open to public inspection at all times during office hours, except as specifically exempted from disclosure by law. The act specifically exempts from disclosure records that are exempted or prohibited from disclosure by federal or state law and lists records subject to that exemption, specifying that the listed exemptions are not inclusive of all exemptions under the act.

This bill, the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026, would prohibit a governmental agency from substantially burdening a California Indian or California Native American tribe’s exercise of religious beliefs or spiritual practices on state public lands, including their access to and use of sacred sites and objects, and their ability to perform religious ceremonies and rites, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless the governmental agency demonstrates that application of the burden is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is in the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. The bill would authorize a California Indian or tribe to assert a violation of these provisions as a claim or defense in any judicial or administrative proceeding, as specified. The bill would require a governmental agency to allow California Indians access to sacred sites on state public lands, as specified. The bill would require a governmental agency to seek and document free, prior, and informed consent from affected tribes before undertaking any project action on state public lands that may pose a risk to sacred sites, as specified. The bill would require the affirmation of consent from the governing body of the affected tribe to be in writing, as described.

This bill would require the Department of General Services, in coordination with the Capitol Protective Section, to the greatest extent possible, to uphold the religious freedom, ceremonial practices, sacred sites, cultural patrimony, and cultural landscapes of tribes when accessing the State Capitol Building Annex and grounds. The bill would require the Capitol Protective Section, to the greatest extent possible, to avoid undue harm when handling tribal instruments and regalia.

This bill would require information identifying sacred sites, cultural landscapes, or religious practices obtained by a governmental agency for the purposes of the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026 to be confidential and would exempt this information from public record laws, including the California Public Records Act. The bill would revise the list of exempted records under the California Public Records Act to add the above-described exemption. The bill would define various terms for these purposes and would make related legislative findings.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026.

California Indian Freedom Act of 2026

SEC. 2.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California is home to the greatest number of California Indians living in the United States, approximately 700,000 according to the 2025 United States Census.

(b) More than 100 Native Nations call California home, each with distinct religions, spiritual traditions, and ceremonies that long predate statehood and continue to be practiced to this day.

(c) California Indian religions and spiritual beliefs, like many Indigenous religions, are exercised through land-based practices, including sacred sites and ceremonies tied to specific geographies, and require access to cultural landscapes that remain integral to the continued survival of California Indian religions and spiritual practices.

(d) Prior to the annexation of the California territory by the United States of America, the Indigenous people of this land were subjected to systems of conversion and enslavement under Spanish rule until 1821 through the Franciscan mission system.

(e) During the Mexican administration of the province from 1821 to 1845, the ancestral homelands of California’s Native Nations continued to be carved up by migrating Mexican, United States, British, and Canadian settlers, therefore, losing access to their spiritual sites and the natural resources.

(f) Since the incorporation of California territory into the United States of America in 1849, the relationship between the state and California Indians was fraught with violence, exploitation, dispossession, and the attempted destruction of tribal communities and criminalization of Native religious and spiritual practices.

(g) In 1850, the State of California passed An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, which facilitated the removal of Indigenous groups from their ancestral lands through family separation and indentured servitude. The act also facilitated the punishment of Indigenous people for minor crimes, and prohibited the religious and spiritual practices of California Indians.

(h) Between 1850 and 1859, the State of California actively engaged in violent conflicts against its Native population, organizing private militias and calling up the state militia to respond to what officials perceived as “Indian attacks.”

(i) In 1851, Governor Peter Hardeman Burnett, California’s first governor, declared in his State of the State address that “a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected.”

(j) Between 1854 and 1859, the state authorized a series of military expeditions against Native communities in Humboldt, Klamath, Modoc, Pit River, San Bernadino, and Tulare. These campaigns generated an estimated cost of $449,605.74. California later submitted the expenses to Congress for reimbursement, but only $229,987.67 was ultimately approved and repaid under the Congressional Appropriations Act of March 2, 1861.

(k) Between 1892 and 1974, California was home to 13 federal Indian boarding schools that, under a federal mandate to assimilate California Indian children into American culture, forcibly removed thousands of Native children from their families, subjected them to harsh discipline and cultural suppression, including the loss of language, identity, and spiritual practices, and left a legacy of profound intergenerational trauma that continues to affect the well-being of California Native American tribes.

(l) Prior to 2022, more than 100 geographic features and places in California carried the term “squaw,” along with other derogatory names assigned to locations within the ancestral homelands of Native Nations. These names reinforced harmful stereotypes, fueled prejudice, and connected to the broader crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

(m) Government‑sanctioned policies and actions that dispossessed California Indian tribes from their lands normalized a broader culture of mistreatment throughout the early 20th century, and the consequences of these injustices remain visible and deeply felt today.

(n) California Indian tribes continue to be separated from their cultural items and the ancestral human remains.

(o) Existing federal protections for Native American religious and spiritual practices, including the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1996) (AIRFA) and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000bb) (RFRA), are limited in scope, underenforced, or inapplicable to state and private actions.

(p) Existing California laws do not require Indigenous consent to state and local actions that would burden Native American religious freedom or provide comprehensive protection for the free exercise of Native American religious and spiritual practices, sacred sites, or access to cultural landscapes.

(q) California has a compelling interest in safeguarding Indigenous religious freedom, ceremonial practices, sacred sites, cultural patrimony, and access to cultural landscapes as a matter of human rights, cultural survival, and compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), including Article 11 (right to practices and revitalize cultural traditions), Article 12 (right to maintain, protect, and access religious and cultural sites), Article 25 (right to maintain spiritual relationships with traditional lands), and Article 32 (right to determine and develop priorities for the use of lands and resources), as endorsed by the United States in 2010.

(r) It is therefore necessary to enact comprehensive state-level protections for California Indian religious and spiritual practice freedom protections and sacred site protections, including enforceable rights, consultation and consent requirements, confidentiality measures, stewardship and comanagement frameworks, and remedies.

SEC. 3.

Section 7930.205 of the Government Code is amended to read:

7930.205.

The following provisions may operate to exempt certain records, or portions thereof, from disclosure pursuant to this division:

Information identifying sacred sites, cultural landscapes, or religious practices of California Native American tribes, Section 5097.1002, Public Resources Code.

Taxpayer information, confidentiality, local taxes, Section 7925.000, this code.

Tax preparer, disclosure of information obtained in business of preparing tax returns, Section 17530.5, Business and Professions Code.

Teacher, credential holder or applicant, information provided to Commission on Teacher Credentialing, confidentiality of, Section 44341, Education Code.

Teacher, certified school personnel examination results, confidentiality of, Section 44289, Education Code.

Telephone answering service customer list, trade secret, Section 16606, Business and Professions Code.

Timber yield tax, disclosure to county assessor, Section 38706, Revenue and Taxation Code.

Timber yield tax, disclosure of information, Section 38705, Revenue and Taxation Code.

Title insurers, confidentiality of notice of noncompliance, Section 12414.14, Insurance Code.

Tobacco products, exemption from disclosure for distribution information provided to the State Department of Public Health, Section 22954, Business and Professions Code.

Tow truck driver, information in records of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, Department of Motor Vehicles, or other agencies, confidentiality of, Sections 2431 and 2432.3, Vehicle Code.

Toxic Substances Control, Department of, inspection of records of, Section 25152.5, Health and Safety Code.

Trade secrets, Section 1060, Evidence Code.

Trade secrets, confidentiality of, occupational safety and health inspections, Section 6322, Labor Code.

Trade secrets, disclosure of public records, Section 3426.7, Civil Code.

Trade secrets, food, drugs, cosmetics, nondisclosure, Sections 110165 and 110370, Health and Safety Code.

Trade secrets, protection by Director of Pesticide Regulation, Sections 7924.300 to 7924.335, inclusive, this code.

Trade secrets and proprietary information relating to pesticides, confidentiality of, Sections 14022 and 14023, Food and Agricultural Code.

Trade secrets, protection by Director of Industrial Relations, Section 6396, Labor Code.

Trade secrets relating to hazardous substances, disclosure of, Sections 78480 to 78495, inclusive, and Section 78930, Health and Safety Code.

Traffic violator school licensee records, confidentiality of, Section 11212, Vehicle Code.

Traffic offense, dismissed for participation in driving school or program, record of, confidentiality of, Section 1808.7, Vehicle Code.

Transit districts, questionnaire and financial statement information in bids, Section 99154, Public Utilities Code.

Tribal financial information, Section 8450, this code.

Tribal-state gaming compacts, exemption from disclosure for records of an Indian tribe relating to securitization of annual payments, Section 63048.63, this code.

Trust companies, disclosure of private trust confidential information, Section 1602, Financial Code.

SEC. 4.

Chapter 1.79 (commencing with Section 5097.1000) is added to Division 5 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

CHAPTER 1.79. California Indian Freedom Act of 2026

5097.1000.

For purposes of this act, the following definitions apply:

(a) “California Indian” means a Native American who is a member or citizen of a California Native American tribe.

(b) “California Native American tribe” means a Native American tribe located in California that is on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission for the purposes of Chapter 905 of the Statutes of 2004.

(c) “Capitol Protective Section” means the division of the Department of the California Highway Patrol that provides law enforcement and safety services for the State Capitol Building and grounds and for the State Capitol Building Annex and grounds.

(d) “Consultation” has the same meaning as defined in Section 65352.4 of the Government Code.

(e) “Cultural landscape” means a geographical area on state public lands that includes cultural and natural resources associated with the spiritual and cultural practices of a California Native American tribe.

(f) (1) “Exercise of religious beliefs or spiritual practices” means any tribal traditional practice undertaken as part of California Indian religious, spiritual, or sacred observance, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.

(2) This term includes California Indian spiritual and religious practices tied to land, water, cultural landscapes, and sacred sites, sites on state public lands, and the use, building, or conversion of real property for religious or sacred purposes.

(3) This term includes actions and efforts associated with the preparation in the exercise of California Indian religious or spiritual practices, such as the gathering and collecting of California Indian traditional foods and plants for ceremonial purposes.

(g) “Governmental agency” means any state agency, department, board, or commission.

(h) “Least restrictive means” shall be interpreted consistent with strict scrutiny jurisprudence of California.

(i) “Native Nation” or “tribe” means any federally recognized or nonfederally recognized California Native American tribe.

(j) (1) “Substantial burden” means any government action or policy that occurs on or after January 1, 2027, that does any of the following:

(A) Significantly restricts, denies, or unreasonably interferes with gathering or collecting traditional foods and plants used in ceremonies, including funerals, feasts, and celebrations. celebrations on state public lands.

(B) Denies or unreasonably restricts access to sacred sites, ceremonial grounds, or other locations of religious or spiritual significance. significance on state public lands.

(C) Destroys, desecrates, materially alters, or otherwise interferes with sacred sites, cultural landscapes, or ceremonial items on state public lands in a manner that prevents or substantially impedes the practice of sincerely held religious or spiritual beliefs.

(D) (i) Screens or restricts items of cultural, sacred, or religious significance, including, but not limited to, regalia, headdresses, eagle feathers, traditional medicines, gourd rattles, or other ceremonial items, when entering state government buildings.

(ii) The items shall be permitted and may only be inspected by hand or through other nontechnological means.

(iii) The items shall not be inspected by technological screening.

(2) Routine administrative procedures, minor restrictions, or actions that do not materially prevent or significantly interfere with a California Indian’s or tribe’s exercise of religious beliefs or spiritual practices shall not constitute a substantial burden.

(k) “Sacred site” means any specific location, landscape, landform, waterbody, or area on state public lands that is both of the following:

(1) Historically, culturally, or spiritually significant to a California Indian or tribe.

(2) Used, or has historically been used, for religious, ceremonial, or cultural purposes.

5097.1001.

(a) A governmental agency shall not substantially burden a California Indian or California Native American tribe’s exercise of religious beliefs or spiritual practices on state public lands, including their access to and use of sacred sites and objects, and their ability to perform religious ceremonies and rites, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless the governmental agency demonstrates that application of the burden is both of the following:

(1) In furtherance of a compelling governmental interest.

(2) The least restrictive means of furthering that interest.

(b) (1) A California Indian or tribe shall have standing and may assert a violation of this section as a claim or defense in any judicial or administrative proceeding.

(2) A California Indian or tribe may obtain either of the following:

(A) Declaratory relief.

(B) Injunctive relief.

(3) A prevailing party asserting a claim under this act shall be entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, and any other equitable remedies determined by the court.

5097.1002.

(a) A governmental agency shall allow California Indians access to sacred sites on state public lands for Native American religious, ceremonial, or cultural activities, except where public safety or resource protection make access impossible.

(b) Consistent with United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Articles 11, 12, 25, and 32, a governmental agency shall seek and document free, prior, and informed consent of any affected tribe before undertaking any project action on state public lands that may pose a risk to sacred sites of which the agency has actual knowledge or has been formally notified that may result in any of the following:

(1) Physical destruction or alteration of a sacred site.

(2) Loss of access, privacy, or quiet use.

(3) Long-term environmental degradation affecting religious and spiritual practices.

(c) (1) Affirmation of consent from the governing body of the affected tribe shall be in writing.

(2) If a tribe does not respond within a reasonable timeframe designated in the request, then the governmental agency may interpret the lack of response as a grant of request.

(3) If a tribe responds to a request for consent by objecting to the undertaking, the governmental agency may request consultation with the tribe to see if issues raised by the tribe can be addressed.

(d) Information identifying sacred sites, cultural landscapes, or religious practices obtained by a governmental agency for the purposes of this chapter shall be confidential and exempt from public records laws, including, but not limited to, the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code).

5097.1003.

(a) The Department of General Services, in coordination with the Capitol Protective Section, shall, to the greatest extent possible, uphold the religious freedom, ceremonial practices, sacred sites, cultural patrimony, and cultural landscapes of tribes when accessing the State Capitol Building Annex and grounds.

(b) The Capitol Protective Section shall, to the greatest extent possible, avoid undue harm when handling tribal instruments and regalia.

SEC. 5.

The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

SEC. 6.

The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 3 and 4 of this act, which amend Section 7930.205 of the Government Code and add Chapter 1.79 (commencing with Section 5097.1000) to Division 5 of the Public Resources Code, respectively, impose a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

The Legislature recognizes the state’s destructive role in the ability of California Indians to freely and safely practice their religious and spiritual beliefs through its past legislative actions, and that in order to both protect the privacy of California Indians and California Native American tribes with regard to information they may share with governmental agencies about the location and significance of sacred sites, cultural landscapes, and the practices of profound cultural, religious, and spiritual beliefs, it is necessary that this act limit the public’s right of access to that information and for it to remain confidential.