| Susan Donovan (D) has represented District 69 in Bristol and Portsmouth since first being elected in November 2016. She was named the chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee in January 2023. Representative Donovan is also a member of the House Oversight Committee, the House Education Committee, and the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
She was the sponsor of major legislation enacted in 2021 to ensure pay equity for all employees, regardless of gender or ethnicity. She has sponsored laws that boost the use of electronic medical records and allow patients to protect their privacy and safety by having their health care mailings directed to themselves instead of a spouse or parent. She has sponsored or cosponsored numerous bills to improve the lives of children and families, including a law to help ensure effectiveness of Child Opportunity Zones, a ban on conversion therapy for minors and a 2024 law to spread awareness of type 1 diabetes among parents of schoolchildren. Representative Donovan backs many measures to help seniors, including a law she sponsored that prohibits private insurance companies from discriminating against seniors with pre-existing conditions shopping for Medicare Advantage plans.
She has sponsored or cosponsored many environmental measures, including a bill banning intentional outdoor balloon releases to protect wildlife and prevent litter and power outages. She has cosponsored laws aimed at accelerating Rhode Island's shift toward renewably sourced electricity, reducing waste from plastic shopping bags, and banning toxic PFAS chemicals from food packaging.
Representative Donovan is a retired public school teacher. In 2007, she earned the Governor's Award for Wellness Innovation in the school category, and in 2008, she was named Bristol-Warren Teacher of the Year. She worked as an education consultant at the Brown University Institute of Community Health Promotion. She was a founding member and past chair of the East Bay of Rhode Island Habitat for Humanity chapter, which has since merged with the Greater Providence chapter. She is a board member and education coordinator for the environmental organization Save Bristol Harbor, which fought the transport of LNG through Narragansett Bay.
Representative Donovan earned a B.S. in health and physical education as well as a Master's degree in school administration from Rhode Island College. She lives in Bristol with her husband, Glenn. They have three adult children- Colleen, Cara (Jonathan Mitchell), and Glenn (Erin) and six grandchildren, all of whom reside in Bristol. |