Prior to serving as Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, he served as Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher and Public Education and as a member of the Insurance Committee. He has also previously served on the Energy Resources Committee; Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services; Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government, the Judiciary, and Criminal Justice; Joint Interim Committee on Coastal Barrier Systems; Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) Funding Structure Oversight Board; Interim Committee on Border Security; and Interim Committee on Mental Health.

Representative Bonnen has been named a Courageous Conservative by the Texas Conservative Coalition, Guardian of Small Business by the National Federation of Independent Business, Texas Values Faith and Family Champion, and Pro-Life Hero.

Dr. Bonnen is a practicing neurosurgeon and serves as the Chairman of the Board of Houston Physicians' Hospital.

Dr. Bonnen grew up in Angleton and graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry, and attended medical school at UTMB where he also did his neurosurgery residency and served for two years as an assistant professor of neurosurgery. During college, Representative Bonnen spent two summers working as a counselor at Texas Lion's Camp for handicapped children, which he credits with introducing him to both his profession as a doctor and his wife, Kim. He has continued to devote time to his church and different charitable organizations and has participated in numerous mission trips to Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Cuba, and the Philippines.

Representative Bonnen and his wife Kim live in Friendswood and have two daughters, Lindsay and Janae.