Donna M. White

Donna McDowell White was elected to her first term in the NC House of Representatives in November 2016 and this past November was re-elected to serve a third term by the citizens of NC House District 26. She is the first woman from Johnston County to be elected for this role. Her service to the House has been very active on the Health front as she currently serves as Co-Chair on the Health Committee and Co-Chair of the Appropriations for Health and Human Services Committee. Additionally, Rep. White is a Vice-Chair on Appropriations and a member of Education K-12, Environment, and Family Children and Aging Policy Committees. Bi-Cameral appointments include serving on the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee for Health and Human Services and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee-Subcommittee on Aging.

There are many other task forces and councils that Rep. White sits on including Child Fatality Task Force, Olmstead Plan Stakeholder Advisory Committee (OPSA), NC Serious Illness Coalition, NC Falls Prevention Coalition, and the recently convened NC Council on Health Care Coverage. She was appointed by the Speaker as the Representative to the NC Cancer Coordination and Control Committee, and the Minority Health Advisory Committee. She has a strong commitment to public health, mental health and the overall well-being of NC citizens that is demonstrated through her committee work.

Rep. White had many years of local public service prior to being a representative. She served 12 years on the Johnston County Board of Education, 15 years on the Clayton Planning Board, 13 years on the Clayton Board of Adjustment, and was a member of the Johnston County Transit Advisory Board. Rep. White continues to be very active in civic associations and is a member of the Clayton Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, immediate past board member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce as well as member of the Smithfield Chamber. She was named as the 2013 Woman of the Year for the Cleveland School Road Rotary Club and received the same honor in 2014. Rep. White is a local radio personality on a talk show for the prevention of fraud and scams’ targeting seniors.

Her professional career includes being a registered nurse and she has worked as a public health nurse in communicable disease, school health, pediatrics, and home health. She was the statewide Nurse Consultant for HIV/AIDS, Migrant Health and served as the Nurse Consultant for a national Case Management Demonstration Project for seven years that became the model of modern case management. Her most recent position, until her retirement Feb. I, 2017, was the Home Care Consultant and Elder Rights Nurse for the Division of Aging and Adult Services at NC Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. White is a member of the North Carolina Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association and Past President of the Johnston County Nurse Association. She was named one of the Great 100 Nurses in North Carolina. In 2018 Rep. White was named Legislator of the Year by the North Carolina Nurses Association.

Past NC House committee appointments include the House Standing Committees for Aging, Health, Appropriations, Appropriations for Health and Human Services, Education K-12, Ethics and Judiciary III. She was also appointed to serve on the House Select Committees for Disaster Relief and Access to Rural Health Advisory Committee, NC Internship Council, and had a gubernatorial appointment to the Safer Schools Task Force in 2013 and was reappointed in 2016. For the 2019-2019 biennium she was appointed by the Speaker to the Bi-partisan House Select Committee for Safer Schools and the NC Well Child Being Transformation Council.

Rep. White has been recognized by multiple advocacy associations for her commitment to many causes. She was named Legislator of the Year by Friends of Residence in Long Term Care during 2017 and 2019, and she received the Legislator of Excellence from the N.C. Police Benevolent Association for 2017-2018 being the first freshman legislator to receive these recognitions. She was given the 2017 Optometric Visionary Award. In 2019 Representative White was named the Legislator of the Year by the NC Association of Rehabilitation Facilities. In December of 2019 Rep White was named Legislator of the Year for the Children’s Advocacy Center of North Carolina. Additionally, she received the Capitol Care Givers Award in 2018 and was named as a fellow to the Legislative Health Policy by the NC Institute of Medicine.