Alabama State Rep. Debbie Wood, who has represented portions of Lee and Chambers counties since 2018, will resign at the end of this month.
Wood told Alabama Daily News her husband recently got a new job in the Florida panhandle. They will live in Alabama near the Florida line.
Alabama law requires state legislators to live in the districts they represent.
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter praised Wood’s service.
“Rep. Wood has been a great member during her time in the House, and we will certainly miss her leadership,” Ledbetter told ADN. “I wish her and her family nothing but the best as they move on to what’s next.”
In 2024, Wood sponsored legislation to give teachers in Alabama paid parental leave.
“I felt terrible that we advertise ourselves as a family friendly state, but we ask our teachers, which are majority women, that come out of college to spend all of their time with our children, but we don’t give them enough time to stay at home with their newborns,” Wood said recently about the need for the bill.
This year Wood wasn’t the primary sponsor of the legislation that became a law giving teachers and state employees paid leave, but she continued to advocate for it.
“Ronald Reagan said there is no limit to the good we can do if we don’t worry who gets the credit,” Wood said.
Wood also worked with Sen. Garlan Gudger on post-COVID-19 legislation to expand access to family members when a loved one is hospitalized during a pandemic.
In her committee assignments, Wood was vice-chair of the County and Municipal Government Committee. She said some of her biggest accomplishments weren’t the bills she passed, but those she helped stop.
“There are just some bad pieces of legislation that one before us and we have to stand up against,” Wood said. She cited the 2024 effort to raise the online sales tax to more closely align with sales taxes paid on in-person purchases as an example.
Once Wood officially resigns, Gov. Kay Ivey will call a special election for House District 38. A new member will likely be seated a few months before the regular 2026 election cycle and the May 19 primary.
In 2018, lawmakers and state voters approved a constitutional amendment that says if a state House or Senate seat is vacated on or after October 1 of the third year of a four-year term, the seat would remain empty until the next regular election.
Two Republicans, Kristin Nelson of Lanett and Micah Messer of Smiths Station, are already running for the seat in the regular election cycle. Messer ran against Wood in 2022.