There are dozens of painful program cuts in Governor Christie’s tentative state budget for next year. We support many of these proposals, because we believe it’s high time to end New Jersey’s tax-and-spend-way-too-much ways. But some state programs are too important and provide so much bang for our bucks, cutbacks are pound-foolish. We put state [...]
Ms. Vainieri Huttle was elected to the Assembly in 2005 and re-elected in 2007 and 2009. She also served on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 2001 to 2007, and was selected to serve as chair in 2003 and 2004.
In 2010, Assemblywoman Huttle sponsored the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, as well as several measures to improve the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities, including laws to create a registry of offenders who abuse persons with special needs and to eliminate the word “retarded” from state statutes.
Ms. Vainieri Huttle is presently the Chair of the Assembly Human Services Committee. Over the past year, she has led the Committee on a tour of all of the state’s seven developmental centers and five psychiatric facilities in an effort to enhance the Committee’s understanding of New Jersey’s complex human services system. She is also a former member of the Adler Aphasia Center Board of Directors and a former trustee of Vantage Health. Her experience and Committee Chairmanship have guided her in crafting numerous pieces of legislation in the human services arena.
As a former trustee of Shelter Our Sisters, an organization that provides counseling and direct care to domestic violence victims, Ms. Vainieri Huttle has been active in sponsoring laws and advocating on behalf of this cause. Her efforts include a bill to establish lease and rental protections for victims, as well as a law establishing Denim Day to raise awareness of incidences of domestic violence.
Ms. Vainieri Huttle currently serves at an Ex-Officio member of the New Jersey State Council of the Arts and helped establish the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood in 2003. She is working to on a package of legislation to assist non-profit organizations, including a task force on coordination amongst not for profit organizations to create a more effective and efficient use of public funding between these groups.
Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle was named Legislator of the Year by the ARC of New Jersey and Advocate of the Year by the NJ Alliance for Children, Youth, and Families. She also received the New Jersey Travel Industry Association’s Friend of Tourism Award and Rider University’s Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics’ first Legislator Award. In 2011, Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle was inducted into the Garden State Equality Hall of Fame for her commitment to equality and justice.
Ms. Vainieri Huttle was born on September 15th in Jersey City. She attended Rider University and, in 1980, she graduated cum laude from Farleigh Dickenson University with a B.A. in English. She also received state certification for teaching.
Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle and her husband, Frank, have two daughters: Alexandra and Francesca. She manages a family owned business in North Bergen, the Vainieri Funeral Home, where she has served as president and director since 1981.
