Official Links: WEBSITE
assemblymember.addis@assembly.ca.gov
(916) 319-2030
LINKEDINA several-year political rise for Dawn Addis culminated with the Democrat being elected to the California State Assembly by a 24-point margin.
Addis, a longtime special education teacher in San Luis Obispo County, had previously served four years on the Morro Bay City Council. She ran for Assembly in 2020, losing to Republican incumbent Jordan Cunningham by a 10-point margin. Cunningham chose to retire after his district was redrawn.
“The great challenge of our times is to build resilience to the changing climate, expand opportunities for all and make it affordable to live here, while preserving the things we love,” Addis said in a press release when she was sworn in. “I look forward to solving these issues together, and I am ready to get to work.”
Background
Addis and her now-husband Marcus Jackson moved to San Luis Obispo County in the early 2000s, with Addis only becoming active politically following Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election.
She started by co-organizing the San Luis Obispo Women’s March in January 2017, telling the Tribune in an article that ran a few days beforehand, “Speaking for myself, I’m aware of many local women and local children being afraid for their personal safety because of things being said during the election cycle, by groups that have latched on to a message.”
Her work on the San Luis Obispo march, which approximately 10,000 people took part in, earned Addis recognition as one of five women of the year for the 24th Congressional District in April 2017. She followed this late the next year with election to the Morro Bay City Council.
Addis holds a master's degree in special education from San Francisco State University. She lives in Morro Bay with husband Marcus Jackson, with whom she shares two children.
Committees
Higher Education
Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (vice chair)
Public Employment and Retirement
Select Legislation
AB 452: Addis and California State Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) introduced the Justice for Survivors Act on Feb. 6, 2023. A press release related to the bill said it seeks to end “California’s arbitrary civil statute of limitations for minors who have experienced sexual abuse and removes barriers that prevent survivors from seeking justice against their abusers and the institutions that concealed or ignored their claims.”
AB 370: Drawing on her educational background, Addis introduced the Biliteracy Advancement Act on Feb. 1, 2023. According to a press release about the bill, it is meant to create fairer standards to obtain California’s State Seal of Biliteracy for English language learners. “Obtaining the State Seal of Biliteracy should be achievable for multilingual students from all primary-language backgrounds,” Addis said in the release. “Balancing this benchmark is a step in the right direction when it comes to equitable education.”
District Boundaries and Office Locations
Addis’s geographically broad district snakes up the Central Coast, spanning all the way to Monterey Bay in the north and near Bakersfield at its southern-most point. Accordingly, Addis keeps the following three offices:
