Senator Christine Tartaglione Contact information

Christine M. “Tina” Tartaglione was born on September 21, 1960, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of the late Eugene and late Margaret Tartaglione. A lifetime Philadelphia resident, she attended St. Martin of Tours, St. Basil Academy, and Peirce Junior College where she graduated Maxima Cum Laude.

Tartaglione 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.

In 1994, Tartaglione became the fifth woman in state history to win election to the State Senate and in 2010 became the first woman to serve in Senate Democratic Leadership when she was elected Caucus Secretary. Now in her seventh term, she serves as Democratic Chairwoman of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, and serves on the Banking and Insurance, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, and Law and Justice standing committees in the Senate, as well as the bicameral Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and the Senate Committee on Ethics and Official Conduct.

She is a member of the Accessibility Advisory Board within the Department of Labor and Industry, the Election Law Advisory Board under the Joint State Government Commission and the Board of Trustees of Temple University and serves as chairwoman of the Senate Philadelphia Delegation.

Senator Tartaglione is widely known as the Senate’s leading advocate for working families, fair wages, and people with disabilities. She authored Pennsylvania’s landmark 2006 minimum wage increase and was instrumental in the establishment of the state Office for People with Disabilities. She was the principal sponsor of successful legislation protecting healthcare employees from the dangerous practice of mandatory overtime, as well as legislation that created the Pennsylvania Center for Health Careers.

The Senator also authored legislation to provide the Commonwealth with a focus for developing strategies to ensure an ample complement of quality healthcare workers for the short-term and long-term. She continues to be a leading advocate for safe nurse staffing levels. Senator Tartaglione has acted to safeguard and support the Pennsylvania State Police. During the 2011-2012 session, her legislation was enacted to allocate additional funding to the PSP, allowing the department to reinforce its dwindling complement of troopers.

The senator’s advocacy for safe work environments extends to Pennsylvania’s public transit systems. She is the primary sponsor of legislation that strengthens the protections for transit workers from physical assaults. She has introduced legislation to provide OSHA protections similar to those enjoyed by private-sector employees to all state and local public employees, including school district and transportation authority employees.