Staff	Committees
Madge Owens	Natural Resources & Environment
	Retirement
	State Institutions & Property

Debbie G. Buckner (D- Columbus) represents House District 130. A native Georgian, she has lived in the Columbus area since 1957. She was first elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 2002. House District 130 consists of parts of Talbot, Harris, and the eastern part of Muscogee County.

Rep. Buckner is currently serving as a member of the Natural Resources & Environment, Retirement, and State Institutions & Property committees. As a freshman legislator, she served as secretary of the State Institutions & Properties Committee, a member of the Health & Human Services Committee, a member of the Natural Resources Committee and was the only freshman to serve on the Water Subcommittee. She is a former assistant to the Majority Whip.

Rep. Buckner is the Director of Community Benefit at Columbus Regional Healthcare System, having previously worked for Doctors Hospital and the Columbus Health Department as Senior Public Health Educator. She earned her BS in Health Science from Columbus State University and attended Georgia Southwestern College to do postgraduate work and earn a teaching certificate.

Rep. Buckner is a Board Member of Twin Cedars. Her community service includes volunteering for the American Lung Association of Georgia, Columbus-Ft. Benning chapter of the American Cancer Society, Concharty Council of Girl Scouts, West Central Georgia Cancer Coalition, Columbus Hospice, Three Rivers AHEC, The Jekyll Island Foundation, The Valley Collaborative for Suicide Prevention and Historic Talbotton Foundation.

In 2004, she was inducted into the gracious ladies of Georgia, was named Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Rural Health Association, was presented the American Heart Association’s Outstanding Advocate Award, and received the American Cancer Society’s Outstanding Legislative Leadership Award for 2003 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006, she was recognized by the Georgia Alliance for Tobacco Prevention. In 2006, the Georgia Environmental Council honored her as the Legislator of the Year.

In 2008, The Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island State Park named her Georgia State Representative of the Year, and the Georgia Conservation Voters honored her with an Environmental Leadership Award.

Representative Buckner and her husband, Mike, live at Fielder’s Mill in Talbot County, one of the few operational grist mills left in Georgia. They have three children, Josh, John and Olivia.