Donna Smelser Howard (born October 25, 1951) is a Democratic member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

, representing the 48th District since her election in 2006. She currently serves as vice chair of the House Administration Committee and also serves on the Appropriations Committee, the Higher Education Committee, and the Appropriations Sub-Committees on Article III and on Budget Transparency and Reform.

Early life, education, and early career

Howard was born in Austin,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. She graduated from Reagan High School in Austin before moving on to the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

, where she earned a B.A in Nursing in 1974 and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Health Administration in 1977. Howard worked as a critical-care nurse at Brackenrige Hospital and Seton Hospital in Austin. While at Seton, she helped start the Good Health program and served as District 5 President of the Texas Nurse's Association. Howard also served on the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

faculty as a Health Education instructor.

Political career

From 1996-1999, Howard served on the Eanes Independent School District school board. On February 14, 2006, Howard defeated

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Ben Bentzin in a special election runoff to replace Todd Baxter. In the 2006 general election, Howard was again to face Bentzin, but Bentzin ultimately withdrew from the race, which Howard won by a wide margin. Howard retained her seat in 2008, defeating Republican Pamela Waggoner. In 2009, the Texas Association of Deans and Directors of Professional Nursing Programs honored Howard with its Champion for Nursing Education Award. In 2010, Howard narrowly defeated former

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and

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player Dan Neil. On election day, the Secretary of State of Texas certified Howard as the winner by 16 votes. Following a recount requested by Neil, the Secretary of State found Howard to still be the winner, though by only 12 votes. Neil then requested that the election be investigated by the House of Representatives. After a four-day hearing headed up by Representative Will Hartnett, Howard was found to have won the election by 4 votes and Neil ultimately dropped the contest. In 2011, Howard was the recipient of the 2011 Dr. Dorothy J. Lovett Distinguished Alumni Award from the

School of Nursing and was inducted in the

College of Education Hall of Honor. In 2019, Howard authored H.B. 1590, which created a Sexual Assault Survivors Task Force in the Governor’s Office to collect information on agencies' responses to sexual assaults and develop best practices. The bill passed unanimously in the House and Senate and was signed by the Governor. The Task Force began meeting on February 6, 2020, and is due to deliver a series of reports to the Texas Legislature on November 1, 2020.

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

named Howard a Best Lawmaker in June 2019 for her work during Texas' 86th Legislative session.

Election history

Election history of Howard.Uncontested primary elections are not shown.

Most recent election

2018

Previous elections

2016

2014

2012

2010

2008

2006

External links

Donna Howard
Official TX House website
Donna Howard
Official website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Donna Howard (TX)
profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Donna University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio alumni 1951 births Living people People from Austin, Texas Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Women state legislators in Texas American nurses American women nurses 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians