Two Kansas legislators have pre-filed a bill to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. The bill was proposed by Dennis Highberger and Ponka-We Victors, the only Native American in the Kansas legislature. The bill states Kansas recognizes that it was "first inhabited by the indigenous peoples of this region, including the Kanza and Osage peoples."

The idea of Indigenous Peoples Day was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation of Native nations to the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas. Alaska, Hawaii, South Dakota, Vermont and a growing number of cities across the United States have proclaimed the second Monday of October to be Indigenous Peoples Day.