Jim Wood
Speaker pro tempore of the California State Assembly
Assumed office
November 22, 2023
Preceded byCecilia Aguiar-Curry
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 2nd district
Assumed office
December 1, 2014
Preceded byWesley Chesbro
Personal details
Born (1960-04-10) April 10, 1960
Turlock, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of California, Riverside (BS)
Loma Linda University (DDS)

Jim Wood (born April 10, 1960) is an American politician currently serving as Speaker pro Tempore of the California State Assembly since November 2023.[1][2] He is a Democrat representing the 2nd Assembly District, which encompasses all of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity counties, plus northern and coastal Sonoma County, including the northern half of Santa Rosa.[3]

Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2014, he was the Mayor of Healdsburg and a family dentist. He also served on the Healdsburg City Council for 8 years from 2006 to 2014.[4]

In addition to his work as a member of the Assembly, he has worked as a forensic dentist for five Northern California counties, establishing a mass disaster identification team in California and helped pass state legislation to standardize county identification procedures, a model now adopted by other states. He has been called to support efforts to identify victims of disasters including 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Valley Fire in Lake County and other wildfires in northern California, including the Camp Fire.[5]

Wood was appointed chair of the Assembly Health Committee in the first quarter of 2016 and focuses on issues related to increasing access to quality, affordable health care. He notes his most significant accomplishment to date has been the creation of the Office of Health Care Affordability, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on June 30, 2022, and is contained in the budget bill, SB 184 (see Section 19).[6][7]

Wood represents an area of Northern California that has experienced some of the largest wildfires in the state, including the August Complex, Mendocino Complex, LNU Lightning and Monument.[8] He has successfully sought billions in state funding for fire prevention, vegetation management and home hardening and created a separate entity within the State Fire Marshal to focus on planning and prevention activities.[9][10]

Wood also authored a bill, AB 890, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, that allows nationally certified nurse practitioners, after completing specific transition requirements, to practice to the full scope of their license independent of physician oversight. He has said increasing the number of primary care health care practitioners is needed to increase access to care for people in California, especially in underserved and rural areas.[11]

Elections

Healdsburg City Council

2006

2006 Healdsburg City Council Election [12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Nonpartisan Jim Wood 3,026 50.6
Nonpartisan Eric A Ziedrich 2,774 46.4
Other Write-in 180 3.0
Total votes 5,980 100.0

2010

2010 Healdsburg City Council Election [13]
Party Candidate Votes %
Nonpartisan Jim Wood 3,250 48.0
Nonpartisan Susan E. Jones 2,623 38.7
Nonpartisan Rosie Fabian 888 13.1
Total votes 6,761 100.0

California State Assembly

2014

California's 2nd State Assembly district election, 2014
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Wood 37,244 41.2
Republican Matt Heath 28,866 31.9
Democratic John Lowry 16,464 18.2
Green Pamela Elizondo 7,853 8.7
Total votes 90,427 100.0
General election
Democratic Jim Wood 85,045 65.1
Republican Matt Heath 45,553 34.9
Total votes 130,598 100.0
Democratic hold

2016

California's 2nd State Assembly district election, 2016
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 102,308 99.9
Libertarian Ken Anton (write-in) 56 0.1
Total votes 102,364 100.0
General election
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 138,020 72.9
Libertarian Ken Anton 51,245 27.1
Total votes 189,265 100.0
Democratic hold

2018

California's 2nd State Assembly district election, 2018
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 80,178 69.6
Republican Matt Heath 34,975 30.4
Total votes 115,153 100.0
General election
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 128,444 69.4
Republican Matt Heath 56,549 30.6
Total votes 184,993 100.0
Democratic hold

2020

California's 2nd State Assembly district election, 2020 [14]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 112,839 70.8%
Republican Charlotte Svolos 46,439 29.2%
Total votes 159,279 100.0%
General election
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 162,287 68.5%
Republican Charlotte Svolos 74,582 31.5%
Total votes 236,869 100%

2022

California's 2nd State Assembly district election, 2022
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 92,411 71.06%
Republican Charlotte Svolos 37,636 28.94%
Total votes 130,047 100.0%
General election
Democratic Jim Wood (incumbent) 129,356 68.92%
Republican Charlotte Svolos 58,330 31.08%
Total votes 187,686 100%

References

  1. ↑ "Official Website - Assemblymember Jim Wood Representing the 2nd California Assembly District". a02.asmdc.org. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  2. ↑ Korte, Lara; Gardiner, Dustin; White, Jeremy B. (November 22, 2023). "Rivas' first big flex". POLITICO. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  3. ↑ "District Map | Official Website - Assemblymember Jim Wood Representing the 2nd California Assembly District". a02.asmdc.org. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Biography | Official Website - Assemblymember Jim Wood Representing the 2nd California Assembly District".
  5. ↑ "Biography | Official Website - Assemblymember Jim Wood Representing the 2nd California Assembly District". a02.asmdc.org. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Bill Text - SB-184 Health". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Governor Newsom Signs Budget Bill that Includes Assemblymember Jim Wood's Health Care Priority | Official Website - Assemblymember Jim Wood Representing the 2nd California Assembly District". a02.asmdc.org. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Stats & Events". www.fire.ca.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation". osfm.fire.ca.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Bill Text - AB-9 Fire safety and prevention: wildfires: fire adapted communities: Office of the State Fire Marshal: community wildfire preparedness and mitigation". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Bill Text - AB-890 Nurse practitioners: scope of practice: practice without standardized procedures". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Registrar of Voters | Clerk-Recorder-Assessor-Registrar of Voters | County of Sonoma" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "Council Member; City of Healdsburg; 4 Year Full Term Election Information November 2, 2010 Election".
  14. ↑ https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2020-primary/sov/complete-sov.pdf#page=23
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