HB 1983 — An Act designating the second Monday in October each year as Indigenous Peoples' Day in this Commonwealth.

PRINTER'S NO.    2502

                   THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 1983
                                              Session of
                                                2025

     INTRODUCED BY RABB, RIVERA, KINKEAD AND CEPEDA-FREYTIZ,
        OCTOBER 22, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, OCTOBER 23, 2025


                                   AN ACT
 1   Designating the second Monday in October each year as Indigenous
 2      Peoples' Day in this Commonwealth.
 3      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 4   hereby enacts as follows:
 5   Section 1.   Short title.
 6      This act shall be known and may be cited as the Indigenous
 7   Peoples' Day Act.
 8   Section 2.   Legislative findings.
 9      The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
10          (1)   Millions of indigenous people inhabited the land
11      that makes up this Commonwealth prior to European settlement.
12          (2)   The Doctrine of Discovery enabled Christian
13      explorers to wrongfully seize lands inhabited by indigenous
14      people and subjected indigenous people to brutality.
15          (3)   European exploration and settlement adversely
16      impacted indigenous populations, devastated natural resources
17      and initiated the slave trade.
18          (4)   Indigenous people suffered discrimination and
 1      oppression as a result of European exploration and
 2      settlement.
 3          (5)    This Commonwealth exists on the tribal lands of the
 4      Erie, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Munsee, Shawnee and
 5      Susquehannock.
 6          (6)    The Treaty of Shackamaxon between William Penn and
 7      the Lenape sought to cultivate an alliance and friendship.
 8          (7)    The Treaty of Shackamaxon was broken within a
 9      generation.
10          (8)    From the early 19th through the mid-20th centuries,
11      indigenous children were taken from their homes and sent to
12      Indian Residential Schools, such as the Carlisle Indian
13      Industrial School, which perpetuated cultural genocide of
14      indigenous youth through forced "Americanization" that
15      included the abandonment of language, tradition, names and
16      identities.
17          (9)    The Snyder Act of 1924, which gave indigenous
18      peoples born in the United States full citizenship, was an
19      important step in guaranteeing the right to vote for
20      indigenous people.
21          (10)    It is vital to honor the sacrifice, culture,
22      tradition and contributions of the indigenous people of this
23      Commonwealth and of North America.
24          (11)    We must build and strengthen connections with the
25      communities and tribes of indigenous people in this
26      Commonwealth.
27   Section 3.    Designation.
28      The second Monday in October each year is designated as
29   Indigenous Peoples' Day in this Commonwealth.
30   Section 4.    Construction.

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1      Nothing in this act shall be construed as requiring an
2   employer to treat the second Monday in October as a legal or
3   official holiday or to provide paid leave to an employee on the
4   second Monday in October solely by virtue of the date being
5   designated under this act.
6   Section 5.   Effective date.
7      This act shall take effect immediately.




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