On September 10, 2015, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) threatened to introduce a bill proposing to revoke the NFL’s federal antitrust exemption status for permitting the continued use of the Washington Redskins moniker. Now, the Redskins nickname is being threatened under state laws in California.
The “California Racial Mascots Act,” as the new legislation is known, passed in the California state assembly on Thursday September 10, 2015—the same day Norton made statements introducing her new bill proposal. The Act now rests on the desk of Governor Edmund Brown, Jr. for final approval. If passed, the legislation will ban the Redskins name from being used as a school or athletic team’s nickname in California’s public schools.
According to news reports, four schools in California currently use the Redskins nickname, despite the fact that California maintains the nation’s largest population of Native American citizens. If approved under Gov. Brown, the Act will be in effect starting January 1, 2017, at which point all California public schools will be prohibited from using the Redskins moniker.