SACRAMENTO — Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) introduced her second bill of the 2026 legislative session this week to safeguard California's democratic rule in response to national rhetoric around a potential third term for the President of the United States.
Assembly Bill 1539, the Protect Our Democracy Act, bolsters critical constitutional safeguards at the state level by making it a crime to attempt to place a candidate for President or Vice President on the ballot who is constitutionally ineligible to serve in those offices due to term limits.
Under the Twenty-Second Amendment, which was ratified 75 years ago, the President of the United States is ineligible for more than two, four-year terms. Under current law, however, there are no specific consequences for such attempts to make an end run around the U.S. Constitution.
AB 1539 rectifies this issue by requiring a representative of each political party to certify, under penalty of perjury, that the party's nominees for President and Vice President are qualified under the Twenty-Second Amendment.
This will prevent bad actors from attempting to subvert the Constitution and place a nominee on the ballot who has already completed two terms as President, bolstering safeguards that help to protect California's democratic system.
AB 1539 awaits referral to policy committee.
Dawn Addis was elected to the California State Assembly in 2022 to represent the coastal 30th Assembly District, which includes San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and Santa Cruz Counties. She is the Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 1 on Health.
CONTACT: Alexis Garcia-Arrazola, (916) 319-2030