James "Jim" David Wood Jr (born April 10, 1960) is an American politician who served as Speaker pro Tempore of the California State Assembly from 2023 to 2024.

[1] 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 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).

[7] 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.

[8][9] 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.