Diwali celebrations on in Sacramento, despite state holiday legal challenges
For communities across Sacramento and California, Diwali — the ancient Hindu Festival of Lights — comes with its joyful tradition of illumination to symbolize good over evil, but this year’s celebration is marked with a shadow of disappointment.
Diwali will be celebrated on Sunday, Nov. 8, honoring lightness over darkness and knowledge over ignorance with joyful lights and bountiful feasts. More than a billion people of various faiths across India, southern Asia and the global diaspora celebrate Diwali annually.
Celebrants had hoped it would be a state holiday, as well. Following the passage of Assembly Bill 268 last year, Diwali was supposed to be celebrated as such in California for the first time this November.
However, legal challenges halted the law’s enforcement, leaving Diwali out of official celebrations in 2026. The governor’s office has appealed the decision and litigation is still pending.
Regardless of its standing as a state holiday, the celebration goes on.
“We have seen (the holiday law’s legal challenge), but it did not impact us,” according to Bhaskar Vempati, who organized a Diwali event in Rancho Cordova. “We thank California for the official recognition. It’s a powerful message that our culture is valued, and also that California embraces the diversity of its communities.”
Ringing in the holiday
Still, celebrants will gather in the first weeks of November to celebrate the Festival of Lights and its messages of hope, unity and togetherness.
On Oct. 25, the City of Rancho Cordova partnered with the capital region-based Suvidha International Foundation to ring in the Diwali holiday. Festive Diwali decorations filled Rancho Cordova’s Stone Creek Park for the city’s fourth annual Diwali celebration, with traditional Indian dancers and children’s activities entertaining a crowd of more than 2,500 attendees, according to Vempati.
Dozens of vendors sold goods and food throughout the event, and a fireworks show closed out the celebration. Vempati said local leaders including U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Rocklin, showed out to support the community.
An uncertain state holiday
In early 2025, Assemblymembers Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, and Darshana Patel, D-San Diego, introduced AB 268, also known as the Diwali Holiday Act. The bill received bipartisan support in both state legislative chambers before being signed into law by Gov. Newsom in October 2025.
Under the legislation, state workers could choose to observe Diwali as a paid holiday in place of a personal holiday. Public schools could also close for Diwali with agreement from school boards, and could host educational activities about the holiday, either that day or on another day if schools are closed.
California recognized Diwali as a state holiday starting in January 2026, but before the festival’s lights could be lit, the San Francisco Taxpayers Association sued the governor’s office, saying the law violates parts of the California and U.S. Constitutions.
“Assembly Bill 268 thus gives special recognition, preference and aid to those who observe the Diwali religious holiday and encourages instruction on sectarian doctrine,” the association wrote in its initial complaint to the Sacramento Superior Court in December.
In response, the California Attorney General’s office claimed the association could not prove violations of the constitutions or that observing Diwali as a state holiday would put “irreparable harm or immediate danger” on taxpayers due to the cost of closing schools and giving public employees paid time off.
Judge Stephen Acquisto sided with the taxpayers association, ruling that the state did not do enough to prove Diwali has a “significant secular purpose” for being observed on the state level, prompting the state to withdraw employees’ and schools’ option to observe it.
“Neither the text of the law nor its legislative history hints at secular considerations, such as the need for another holiday around the time of the year or whether a significant portion of the population already expects to take off Diwali for celebrations,” Acquisto wrote in his ruling. “An appositive phrase (in the legislation describes) Diwali as ‘one of the world’s oldest continuing religious holidays,’ ... The statement does not indicate that Diwali is celebrated for anything other than religious reasons or that the State’s designation of the day as a holiday would serve secular purposes.”
Though Vempati said he and his community feel undeterred by the law’s strike-down, he still hopes Diwali will someday be one of California’s official holidays.
“Definitely, we can celebrate,” Vempati said. “I’m glad many people know about Diwali. I know it’s celebrated in the White House ... Diwali is going to be celebrated in (the California) Capitol Building as well.”
Diwali event
Diwali at the Capitol: Assemblymembers Kalra and Patel plan to host a celebration in front of the Capitol building, in partnership with the Association of Indo Americans and the Federation of Indian Associations of San Diego. The free event will include cultural performances, a diya lighting ceremony, a feast of Indian bites, activities and more in honor of the holiday.
Where: California State Capitol West Steps, 10th Street and Capitol Mall, Sacramento
When: 2 p.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5
This story was originally published November 4, 2026 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Diwali celebrations on in Sacramento, despite state holiday legal challenges."
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