Military and Veterans Affairs

The Military and Veterans Affairs Committee provides policymakers with a forum to share and discuss issue-based solutions uniquely related to military members, veterans, and their families. The committee also serves as a vehicle to build regional consensus that fortifies the ongoing cooperative federal–state relationship designed to improve the overall health and well-being of the members of the military and veterans communities.

Committee Leadership


Headshot Camille F.J. Vella-Wilkinson
Camille F.J. Vella-Wilkinson
Representative, Rhode Island
Camille F.J. Vella-Wilkinson (D) represents District 21 in Warwick. She was first elected in November 2016. She is the first vice chairwoman of the House Committee on Conduct and she is a member of the House Committee on Finance, the
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House Committee on Judiciary, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the House Committee on Rules. Also in 2018, she graduated from the Eastern Leadership Academy, a fellowship program designed to enhance the leadership abilities of state officials from all three branches of government. The fellowship took place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Before being elected state representative, Vella-Wilkinson served three terms on the Warwick City Council, from 2011 to 2016, with two terms as finance chairwoman. She was state commissioner on the Rhode Island Commission for Human Relations from 1999 to 2016. She has also served as the City of Warwick Veterans liaison from 2011 to 2016. In 2016, she was honored with the Legislator of the Year award from the Disabled American Veterans, the YMCA Woman of Achievement award and the American Legion Post 43 Auxiliary Female Veteran of the Year award. She is an alumna of the URI Schmidt Labor Research Center and Leadership Rhode Island (2006), a member of American Legion Post 43, Military Officers Association of America and St. Benedict’s Daughters of Isabella Circle 423. A retired Navy officer, she is self-employed as a work-readiness coach. She graduated from St. Edmund High School in Brooklyn in 1974. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from Long Island University in 1979. She received her master’s degree in labor relations from the University of Rhode Island and juris doctor degree from Roger Williams University in 2006.
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Contact

For more information on the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, please contact staff liaison

Debbie-Ann Paige, Senior Policy Analyst
Email: dpaige@csg.org
direct: 646-383-5753