Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as California state holidays, a move Republican critics say prioritizes Muslim observances ahead of a 2028 run.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom put his signature on Assembly Bill 2017, formally adding the two Muslim holidays to the state’s official holiday list and making California only the second state in the country to do so statewide after Washington.
The law permits public schools and colleges to close for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha and makes state employees eligible to observe them. Schools and businesses are not required to shut down, and courts must stay open.
Reporting described the Sunday signing of AB 2017, with related religious-observance bills cleared later in the week before a midnight deadline.
Elizabeth Barcohana, chair of Jewish engagement for the California Republican Party, argued the sequencing itself sent a political signal. AB 395, which would codify Jewish holidays into state law and require state agencies and schools to “make every reasonable effort” to avoid major functions on those days, had reached the governor’s desk days before the Eid measure.
Newsom signed the Eid bill on Sunday. He signed AB 395, AB 1763, and SB 1387 on Wednesday, just before the deadline. AB 1763 guarantees K-12 students excused absences for religious holidays. SB 1387 recognizes Jewish identity as an ethnicity.
Barcohana told the Cleveland Jewish News that the order of those decisions revealed more than scheduling.
She said:
"The fact that Newsom chose to sign the Eid law before the law that protected other religious observance speaks volumes about the direction he is moving as he eyes a 2028 run for the presidency,"
That 2028 positioning has already drawn national attention, including coverage of how Newsom has discussed his place in a crowded Democratic field.
Barcohana went further on the substance of the new holiday status.
She told JNS:
"People may think this is alarmist, but this is an example of American laws adopting a Sharia law framework,"
She also objected to what she called special treatment: the option to shut down public institutions for a holiday that, in her view, had previously been reserved for Christian observances, along with religious curriculum she said emphasizes conversion.
Fox News reported the same critique and noted Newsom’s office did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
Not every Jewish leader shared Barcohana’s alarm over timing. David Bocarsly, CEO of Jewish California, told reporters his organization was focused on the final result rather than the order of the pens.
Bocarsly said:
"With more than 1,000 bills in front of him this past month, we aren’t concerned with the sequencing of Assembly Bill 395 and Assembly Bill 1763, as long as they got signed, and they did. We’re thrilled to see these two critical religious freedom protections become law and to recognize three Jewish holidays in California statute for the first time,"
His group also welcomed SB 1387’s recognition of Jewish identity as an ethnicity. Those measures now sit alongside the new Eid holidays in California statute.
Newsom’s pattern of advancing contested Democratic priorities through high-volume bill signings is familiar territory, including recent fights over legislation shielding immigration nonprofits from investigative scrutiny.
AB 2017 does not force statewide closures. It adds Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to the official holiday list, opens the door for public schools and colleges to close, and lets state workers observe the days. Private businesses keep their own calendars. Courts stay open by requirement.
That design leaves local districts and agencies to decide how far to go, while still placing the Muslim holidays on the same formal roster that governs other state observances. California now shares that statewide recognition only with Washington.
The governor’s broader legislative record continues to draw scrutiny from the right, including earlier decisions such as when Newsom vetoed an extradition shield tied to abortion and transgender procedures.
Democratic organizing and national messaging remain part of the backdrop for any California governor measuring a future White House path, a dynamic also visible when figures like Hillary Clinton hit the trail to boost party candidates.
Newsom faced more than 1,000 bills in a single month, per Bocarsly. He still chose to clear the Eid measure first, then the Jewish-holiday and excused-absence bills later in the same week. Critics on the right read that sequence as a statement about which constituencies he wants to court.
Supporters of the Jewish measures counter that the protections became law and that three Jewish holidays now appear in California statute for the first time. Both sets of facts can be true at once: the bills passed, and the governor set the order.
Equal treatment under the law is not a branding exercise. When a governor elevates one set of religious observances ahead of comparable protections already waiting on his desk, voters are entitled to notice the priority and ask what it signals about the next campaign.
