PRINTER'S NO. 2449
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
2110
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY RABB, DALEY, BULLOCK, HOHENSTEIN, KENYATTA,
MADDEN, OTTEN, SANCHEZ, WEBSTER, SHUSTERMAN, N. NELSON,
KINSEY, SCHLOSSBERG, MILLARD AND BURGOS, NOVEMBER 23, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, NOVEMBER 23, 2021
AN ACT
Designating the second Monday in October each year as Indigenous
Peoples' Day in this Commonwealth.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Indigenous
Peoples' Day Act.
Section 2. Legislative findings.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) Millions of indigenous people inhabited the land
that makes up this Commonwealth prior to European settlement.
(2) The Doctrine of Discovery enabled Christian
explorers to wrongfully seize lands inhabited by indigenous
people and subjected indigenous people to brutality.
(3) European exploration and settlement adversely
impacted indigenous populations, devastated natural resources
and initiated the slave trade.
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(4) Indigenous people suffered discrimination and
oppression as a result of European exploration and
settlement.
(5) This Commonwealth exists on the tribal lands of the
Erie, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Munsee, Shawnee and
Susquehannock.
(6) The Treaty of Shackamaxon between William Penn and
the Lenape sought to cultivate an alliance and friendship.
(7) The Treaty of Shackamaxon was broken within a
generation.
(8) From the early 19th through the mid-20th centuries,
indigenous children were taken from their homes and sent to
Indian Residential Schools, such as the Carlisle Indian
Industrial School, which perpetuated cultural genocide of
indigenous youth through forced "Americanization" that
included the abandonment of language, tradition, names and
identities.
(9) The Snyder Act of 1924, which gave indigenous
peoples born in the United States full citizenship, was an
important step in guaranteeing the right to vote for
indigenous people.
(10) It is vital to honor the sacrifice, culture,
tradition and contributions of the indigenous people of this
Commonwealth and of North America.
(11) We must build and strengthen connections with the
communities and tribes of indigenous people in this
Commonwealth.
Section 3. Designation.
The second Monday in October each year is designated as
Indigenous Peoples' Day in this Commonwealth.
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Section 4. Construction.
Nothing in this act shall be construed as requiring an
employer to treat the second Monday in October as a legal or
official holiday or to provide paid leave to an employee on the
second Monday in October solely by virtue of the date being
designated under this act.
Section 5. Effective date.
This act shall take effect immediately.
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