Newsom Poised to Sign Bill Making Two Islamic Holidays Official California State Holidays

Breaking

The California Legislature passed AB 2017 in the final days of its session, sending a bill to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk that would make Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha official California state holidays. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat, cleared the Assembly on a 64-1 vote in late May before the Senate approved it just ahead of Monday’s session deadline. If signed, the two Islamic holy days would join the state’s existing roster of official holidays, allowing state employees to take paid holiday credits and giving public schools and colleges the option to close their campuses.

Newsom has not yet signed the bill, and his office has not issued a public statement on whether he intends to. Under California’s rules for bills passed at the close of the legislative session, the governor has until roughly mid-October to either sign AB 2017 into law or veto it, meaning the measure remains formally unsigned as of this writing even as some outlets have reported he is expected to approve it.

Details & Background

Beyond the holiday designation itself, AB 2017 directs the State Board of Education to develop an optional model curriculum guide covering the two Eid holidays for schools that choose to use it. Lawmakers softened the bill’s language during negotiations, changing text that originally called on schools to consider “acknowledging and celebrating” the holidays to the more neutral “exploring the history of” them, a shift made after pushback from some education and religious-liberty groups.

Supporters argue the bill closes a longstanding gap for California’s Muslim students and families. Oussama Mokeddem of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ California chapter said, “AB 2017 is a meaningful step toward ensuring Muslim students can celebrate Eid with the same dignity, respect, and accommodation afforded to other faith communities.” CAIR-CA and other backers point to the bill as recognition for a community they say has long had to seek informal absences or accommodations around the two holy days without any formal state designation.

Reactions

Not everyone is applauding. Greg Burt, vice president of the California Family Council, argued the bill creates an uneven standard for how the state treats religious observance in public schools. “No California statute authorizes public schools to hold exercises celebrating the meaning of Christmas, Easter or Good Friday. The asymmetry is written into the law,” Burt said. Some critics have also raised concerns about the curriculum guide eventually touching on the religious content of Eid al-Adha, which commemorates a ritual animal sacrifice, and have questioned whether that material is appropriate for a public-school setting.

Backers counter that the criticism overstates the bill’s reach, noting the curriculum guide is optional and that California’s roughly 500,000 Muslim residents represent a small fraction of the state’s much larger Christian population, which already benefits informally from school calendars built around Christmas and Easter breaks. Newsom’s office, for its part, has stayed silent on the substance of the debate, declining to weigh in publicly on either side while the bill awaits his signature.

Why This Matters to You

If Newsom signs AB 2017, California would become one of the highest-profile states to formally recognize Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha on its official holiday calendar, a move other Democratic-led legislatures are likely to watch closely as a potential template. The optional curriculum provision, in particular, is likely to remain a flashpoint in local school board debates even after the statewide holiday question is settled, as individual districts decide whether to adopt it.

The clock is also a political story in its own right. Newsom has roughly until mid-October to act, and how he handles the decision — sign, veto, or let it become law without his signature — will be read as a signal about his approach to identity and religious-accommodation issues as he continues to build a national profile ahead of the next presidential cycle.