Now on his second term as a state representative, Rep. Jim Christiana continues to champion government reforms while representing the people of the 15th Legislative District of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. 

He introduced PENNWATCH, the Pennsylvania Web Accountability, Transparency and Contract Hub, an online database to make government more open and accessible to taxpayers. This legislation was signed into law on June 30, 2011. 

Learn more on his Facebook page.

He is also part of a team of members banding together to support comprehensive Unemployment Compensation reform to restore balance in the fund for unemployment compensation benefits. 

He continues to be an advocate for school choice and charter schools, supporting several school choice proposals before the House. The proposals involve vouchers and scholarships for students, as well as funding for cyber and traditional charter schools. His legislation, HB 1708, targets relief to students from low-income families attending failing schools, while increasing opportunities for the children of middle-income families to choose an alternative education system through a major expansion of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). HB 1708 will create a school voucher that will commence with the 2012-13 school year and will be available to low-income children who attended a low-achieving school during the 2011-12 school year or will enroll in kindergarten in a low-achieving school for the 2012-13 school year.  The student would also need to reside within the attendance boundary of a low-achieving school as of the first day of class.  A low-achieving school district will be defined as the lowest performing 5 percent of school districts.  

The legislation will also increase the availability of educational opportunities by providing scholarships for tuition for a middle-income child to attend a nonresident public school or a participating non-public school.  This legislation will incorporate the language expanding the successful EITC as passed in HB 1330. 

He has been named to serve on the House Appropriations, Children and Youth, Environmental, and Professional Licensure committees during the 2011-12 legislative session. 

Jim is also a member of the Penn State Beaver Advisory Board, the Mountain State University Advisory Board, the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Board (Beaver County),the Early Childhood Education Caucus, the Phase 4 Board, the House and Senate PA Fair Caucus, the Steel Caucus, the Community College Caucus, the American Italian Caucus, the Gas and Oil Caucus, the Cigar Caucus, the YMCA Caucus, the Autism Caucus, the Pro-Life Caucus, the Property Tax Relief Caucus, and been named Guardian of Small Business by the National Federation of Independent Business.

His service as a state legislator follows his initial immersion into public service as the youngest councilman in Beaver Borough. First elected to that office in 2005, Jim chaired the Beaver Council’s Finance Committee. In that role, he has already proven his dedication to protecting the taxpayers by sponsoring and delivering a property tax cut for Beaver Borough residents. Additionally, Jim worked to build a $150,000 budget surplus in the first year and $300,000 budget surplus in his second year leading the Finance Committee. In recognition for his service to the community and commitment to helping others, Jim was chosen 2010 Fast Track Community Leader.

Jim continues his dedication to fiscal responsibility in Harrisburg by continuing to pursue his goals of rolling back the 2004 Personal Income Tax increase for working citizens and small business owners; lowering the tax burden on job creators in order to grow the economy and stimulate employment opportunities for local residents and making the state budget process and state government itself more transparent and accessible to the public. He also supports reducing the Pennsylvania legislature; the most expensive legislature in the country, and is against the practice of giving legislative bonuses. He is a firm believer that being a legislator is not a career and should be a service with limits, term limits.

A great-grandson of Italian immigrants and a fourth-generation Beaver Countian, Jim is keenly aware of the concerns facing western Pennsylvanians. Jim is a 2002 graduate of Beaver High School and a 2006 Washington & Jefferson College graduate with a major in political science. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Beaver.

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