What's Up at the Texas Leg.

About our speaker:
Representative Donna Howard has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2006. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Calendars Committee, which sets the calendar for the House Floor. She is a key member of the House Appropriations Committee, and sits on its Article III Subcommittee which oversees education spending in the state budget. Donna is also a longtime member of the House Higher Education Committee and the House Administration Committee.

A native of Austin, Donna earned a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and a Master’s degree in health education from the University of Texas. She worked as a critical care nurse at Brackenridge and Seton hospitals, and served as Austin’s first hospital-based Patient Education Coordinator. Donna is a past president of the Texas Nurses Association (District 5) and was a health education instructor at UT.

Donna was elected to the Eanes ISD board in West Austin for the 1996-1999 term.  She has served on the boards of Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, Common Cause Texas, Texas Freedom Network, and the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. She now serves as a board member of the Expanding Horizons Foundation, supporting low-income housing and education.

Representative Howard is married to attorney Derek Howard, is the mother of three adult children and grandmother to four perfect grandkids, and is active in her neighborhood and church communities.