State Rep. Robbin Shipp was forced to resign her seat in the Georgia House effective April 21 because of a conflict between her job as an officer of the courts and her service in the General Assembly.

Shipp, whose District 58 includes portions of DeKalb County and the city of Atlanta, tendered her resignation to Gov. Sonny Perdue on Tuesday, following an opinion from Attorney General Thurbert Baker that she was in violation of the Georgia Constitution’s Separation of Powers act.

Shipp, who was elected to the House in 2006 and is in the middle of her second term, took a job as a senior district attorney with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office in October.

In an April 13 “unofficial opinion,” Baker said that because an assistant district attorney serves as an officer of the judicial branch of state government, and because the Georgia Constitution requires that the branches of government remain separate and distinct, an assistant district attorney may not serve as a member of the legislature in the General Assembly regardless of the source of the funding for the position.

“The Constitution of Georgia provides that [t]he legislative, judicial, and executive powers shall forever remain separate and distinct; and no person discharging the duties of one shall at the same time exercise the functions of either of the others except as herein provided,” Baker said.

Shipp, who had been in private practice immediately before taking the district attorney’s job, said she had sought an opinion from the State Bar when she was offered the job and was told that it was fine.

Shipp, a single mother raising a 12-year-old daughter, said that quitting was difficult.

“It has been an honor and pleasure to represent House District 58,” she said. “I ran for office with the intention of staying there until my constituents elected someone else, but I need to support my daughter and keep a roof over her head.”

She said that as far as she knows, she was the only state legislator in the Georgia House, who is also a district attorney.

Perdue is expected to call a special election in November to fill the seat.

Former State Rep. Stan Watson who worked with Shipp in the General Assembly for two years and in his monthly DeKalb Community Council that meets at New Piney Grove Baptist Church as recently as this month, aid she was inavaluable to the DeKalb Delegation.

“She will be missed because of her legal experience,” Watson said. “They wanted her to quit her job, Its a shame she had to make that choice but she has to feed her family.”

State Rep. Howard Mosby, the DeKalb Delegation chairman, said that Shipp was a valuable member of the delegation and real advocate for DeKalb County, even though she didn’t live in the county.

“Her replacement will be critical to the delegation as we move on the issues of transfering property to Dunwoody, school funding and other issues,” he said.