Personal
Senator Christine M. Tartaglione was born September 21, 1960, in Philadelphia. She is the daugther of the late Eugene and Margaret Warnecki Tartaglione. The Senator is a lifetime Philadelphia resident. She attended St. Martin of Tours, St. Basil Academy and Peirce Junior College where she graduated Maxima Cum Laude.
She answered the call to public service at an early age by serving as an assistant to Philadelphia City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski from 1986-1989. She later worked as a Senior Executive Assistant to State Treasurer Catherine Baker Knoll from 1989-1992. Her commitment to working families led to the position of Business Representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1776 in 1992 until she was elected to the State Senate.
Legislative Accomplishments
In 1994, Senator Tartaglione became only the fifth woman in state history to win election to the State Senate. During her four terms in office, she has served as Democratic Chair of the Aging and Youth Committee and is currently Democratic Chair of the Labor and Industry Committee. She also serves on the Senate Appropriations, Banking and Insurance, Law and Justice, Democratic Policy, and State Government Committees. During the 2005-2006 Legislative Session, the Senator’s legislation raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage was signed into law after a six-year effort. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Office for People with Disabilities in the Governor’s Administration.
The Senator continues to focus her legislative agenda on issues important to senior citizens, children and working families. Senator Tartaglione has proudly supported legislation that provides for:
- quality childcare
- affordable health care
- quality education
- mental health and retardation programs
- long term care
- law enforcement and emergency personnel
- protecting workers’ jobs
Senator Tartaglione has served as a member of Pennsylvania’s Public Television Network Commission, Intra-Governmental Council on Long Term Care, Task Force for the Protection of Older Pennsylvanians, Joint Select Committee to Investigate the Financial Integrity and Stability of the State Workmen’s Insurance Fund, Children’s Trust Fund Board, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
As a member of both the Joint Select Committee on Election Issues and the Governor’s Task Force on Voting Modernization, the Senator has been at the forefront of efforts to reform Pennsylvania’s voting system. She is also a member of the Firefighters and Emergency Services and the Port Legislative Caucuses, the Delaware River Basin Commission, the Accessibility Advisory Board, the State Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council and the Training America’s Teachers Commission.
Community Service and Awards
Locally, Senator Tartaglione has served as a member of various boards and committees such as the Temple University Health System Episcopal Hospital, PATH (People Acting to Help), Empowerment Zone Board, Impact Services Corporation, the President’s Advisory Council of the American Street Corridor Business Association, and the PenJerDel “Rebuild the Delaware Valley” Steering Committee and the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, Inc.
Senator Tartaglione was elected Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Party in June 1995 and served as Chair from June 1998 to June 2002 where she continued to advance the Democratic agenda in the state. As Chair, she led the Pennsylvania Delegation at the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and served as President of the 54th Electoral College in December of 2000.
She has been awarded the prestigious “John F. Kennedy Memorial Award” by the Kennedy Foundation for her tireless support of Mental Health/Mental Retardation Programs. Both the Retired Police, Firemen and Prison Guard Association of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health (PHILAPOSH) named her “Woman of the Year,” and she has been awarded the Firefighters Friend Award by the Philadelphia Firefighters Union Local No. 22.
The Philadelphia lawmaker is also a recipient of the United Food and Commercial Workers Minority Coalition’s “Legislator of the Year Award,” the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center and Organized Labor Supports America’s Veteran’s “2005 Public Service Award,” the Service Employees International Union’s “Thomas F. Zuber Award for Patient Safety,” the “John O’Donnell Friend of Frankford Boys Club Award,” “Columbus Civic Association Achievement Award,” “Working Woman of the Year Award” by the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the “Achievement Award” from the Concerned Black Leaders of Lower Tioga-Hunting Park.
Senator Tartaglione is cited in the “Italian Americans of the Twentieth Century” and is a member of the Ecumenical Hospitaller Order of St. John Knights of Malta for her work as a political and community leader.