The five California public high schools that still use the Redskins as a mascot will have to change their team names if a bill approved Thursday by the Assembly makes it through the Senate and is signed by the governor.

But school sports teams still will be able to take to the field as the Papooses, the Comanches, the Indians, the Braves, or a long list of other American Indian names.

After three years of trying to persuade her colleagues to ban all public school mascots referring to American Indians, Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, mustered the votes she needed only after agreeing to limit the ban to the Redskins.

The California Racial Mascots Act passed by a vote of 43-20 -- a bare two votes more than needed -- with 17 members abstaining.

About 120 teams statewide have mascots that use American Indian terms or tribal names. Of those, Calaveras High School, Chowchilla Union High School, Colusa High School, Gustine High School and Tulare Union High School call their teams the Redskins.

In previous years, Goldberg's attempts to ban the names fell short after critics contended that the effort was an overblown attempt at political correctness. But Thursday, she was able to convince her colleagues that the term Redskins was an unacceptable racial slur. The name, Goldberg said, came from the era when the U.S. government rewarded soldiers for collecting American Indian scalps.

"When you take the top of someone's head off in order to get paid, blood rises to it and turns the skin red," Goldberg said. "That's what redskin means."

Some members said they didn't see the harm in naming teams after tribes.

Assemblyman Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, urged the Assembly to defeat the bill, even in its weaker form, warning that supporters could try to get more names banned in future years. "I want to call my colleagues' attention to this issue of incremental changes," he said.

After the vote, American Indian groups who had supported the bill said they were disappointed they were unable to get support for banning the whole list of names.

"It just demonstrates how racist our society is," said Cindy La Marr, president of the National Indian Education Association. Still, she said, "It's a beginning."

La Marr said her organization is also suing the Washington Redskins to get the professional football team to change its name.

Goldberg said she would try to persuade the Senate to pass the bill. "I only need 21 votes over there," she said. "I hope that's not as hard."