RI lawmakers are back in session today. Here's what to expect on

PROVIDENCE – Before the House and Senate gavel in Tuesday for the first time in 2025, faith leaders from across the religious spectrum in Rhode Island marched to the Stare House for their annual “Rhode Island Interfaith Poverty Vigil.”

The annual event draws advocates from a long list of advocacy organizations to the rotunda to remind elected officials “that we have a moral obligation to fight poverty and inequality.”

Without mentioning President-elect Donald Trump’s name – or his vows to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, including the thousands who call Rhode Island home – the organizers issued a statement that said: “Now more than ever we must uplift communities in need and protect those that are most vulnerable.”

“A new legislative session means more opportunities to … [address] housing insecurity, environmental justice, economic stability, healthcare access, food insecurity, criminal justice reform and many more,” the organizers said.

These familiar pleas – more urgent in the biting cold – greeted Rhode Island’s part-time lawmakers as they arrived at the State House for the first day of the 2025 General Assembly session.

Here’s what to expect for the first day:

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Quirky traditions:

In keeping with tradition – and the state constitution – the session will begin with a “call to order” by the “senior member” from Newport.

In the House, that duty has for years fallen to House Finance Chairman Marvin Abney.

In the Senate, that duty falls to Sen. Dawn Euer, who recently sided against Senate President Dominic Ruggerio as a member of the faction seeking to oust him from leadership at the post-election caucus of Senate Democrats in November.

What we’ll be watching for: What, if anything, she has to say about the concerns that led her to side with a rival candidate for president.

Swearing in:

Secretary of State Gregg Amore will administer the oaths of office to the 113 freshly-elected legislators, including those taking their seats for the first time.

Leadership elections:

Every member of the House and Senate – Republican and Democrat – will vote for the top officers in their chamber for the 2025-26 legislative session.

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The biggest question: How many Senators will vote to give Ruggerio another two-year term as president, and how many will simply record themselves as “present” for the vote.

But barring any currently unexpected surprises, the leadership votes in both chambers should return House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Ruggerio to their perches.

If all goes according to plan, Ruggerio’s granddaughter, Natalie Fallon, age 9, will hold the Bible for him when former Sen. Domenic DiSandro, the current chief magistrate of the Rhode Island traffic tribunal, swears him into another term as Senate president.

Shekarchi’s niece, Samantha Shekarchi – a recent graduate of Suffolk University Law School – will stand by his side as R.I. Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg, swears him into his third term as Speaker.

Speeches:

Ruggerio and Shekarchi are both expected to deliver opening-day speeches that touch on some of the big issues that face the lawmakers once the session gets rolling. Among them:

A glowering budget deficit
A persistent housing crisis that has refuses to let up
Worker shortages, especially among primary care physicians
And the hugely expensive need to tear down and replace a broken interstate highway bridge amid a mountain of unanswered questions.

Who gets to deal with these issues?

Rhode Island’s 2025-26 legislative session begins with 12 newly elected lawmakers joining the Democrat-dominated ranks of a General Assembly.

There are 64 Democrats, 10 Republicans and one independent in the 75-member House, and 34 Democrats and four Republicans in the 38-member Senate.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI General Assembly back in session. Here’s how opening day went.

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