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State Senator Don White

Pennsylvania State Senator Don White was elected in 2000 to his first term representing the 41st Senatorial District, which currently includes all of Indiana County as well as parts of Armstrong, Butler, Clearfield and Westmoreland Counties. 

Senator White serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance and is the Vice Chairman of the Transportation Committee. He is a member of four other Senate committees: Community, Economic and Recreational Development; Environmental Resources and Energy; Law and Justice; and State Government. He is also a member of the PENNVEST Board of Directors, an independent authority that provides loans and grants for water, sewer and storm waste projects across Pennsylvania.

Among his legislative accomplishments, Senator White was the prime sponsor of a law expanding Pennsylvania's Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zones and creating Keystone Innovations Zones as a way to promote economic development, with an emphasis on areas located near colleges and universities.

Senator White also drafted a law that revamped Pennsylvania's insurance solvency laws that minimized increases in workers compensation premium costs, helping small businesses and preserving jobs. As the Chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, Senator White has actively worked to promote competition in the medical insurance marketplace and to improve access and affordability of health care coverage for consumers.

In October 2012, Governor Corbett signed into law Senate Bill 367, legislation introduced by Senator White allowing the leasing of property owned by the state and the State System of Higher Education (SSHE) for mining or removal of valuable coal, oil, natural gas, coal bed methane, limestone and mineral resources.

He was the Prime Sponsor of Act 105 of 2006 which provides tuition credits to spouses and children of Pennsylvania National Guard members who die while on active military duty. The legislation also requires the Commonwealth to cover all, or a portion of, the life insurance premiums for Pennsylvania National Guard members called to active duty to serve in a combat zone as well as those killed in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001.

Senator White also introduced Act 83 of 2005 which extends the coverage that full-time students called to active military duty can receive under their parents’ medical insurance plans. He was the prime sponsor of a law requiring incoming college freshmen who reside on campus be vaccinated against meningitis.

As a lifelong resident of the district, Senator White recognizes the issues most important to the families he represents. Senator White is committed to promoting economic development and improving local roads, highways and bridges throughout his district. Senator White has been instrumental in securing millions of dollars in funding for water, sewer and other infrastructure improvements for municipalities across the district.

He understands the need to limit the tax burden placed on homeowners and employers as well as the necessity to improve Pennsylvania's education system to give students the best opportunity to be competitive in the high-tech, global workplace of the 21st Century. He backs initiatives such as the EITC program, which enables businesses to support public and private schools.

Born in Kittanning, Senator White has lived in Indiana most of his life and is a 1968 graduate of Indiana Area High School. He attended Juniata College from 1968 to 1972. Senator White enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1972 and served in Germany until receiving an Honorable Discharge in 1975.

He is married to Sarah "Anne" Broderick. Their daughter, Abby, will enter into in a Harvard fellowship in thoracic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts later this year.

Senator White is a member of the National Rifle Association and the Farm Bureaus of Armstrong and Indiana Counties. He is also a member of the Armstrong County, Indiana County and Strongland chambers of commerce. Anne White is the past President of the Board of Directors of the Alice Paul House (a shelter for women), Treasurer of the Indiana Area Meals on Wheels and a director on the Indiana Regional Medical Center Board. The Whites are members of Christ Episcopal Church in Indiana.