JOINT RESOLUTION APPROVE AND PUBLISH AND SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS A PROPOSITION OF AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION -- OF QUALIFICATION FOR OFFICE (Proposes a state constitutional amendment to provide no person could hold office as general officer unless that person was a resident and a registered voter in the State of Rhode Island for at least 2 years, continuously, prior to taking office.)

Plain-English Summary

This bill proposes a change to Rhode Island's state constitution that would set stricter eligibility requirements for people running for the state's top elected offices, known as "general officers." These positions include statewide offices like Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and General Treasurer. Under this proposed amendment, a person could not hold one of these offices unless they had been both a resident of Rhode Island and a registered voter in the state for at least two full, continuous years before taking office.

Because this is a constitutional amendment — a change to the state's foundational governing document — it cannot simply be passed by the legislature alone. If approved by the General Assembly, the proposal would be placed on the ballot so that Rhode Island voters themselves would have the final say on whether to make it the law of the land.

This change would directly affect anyone who wants to run for one of these statewide offices. A person who recently moved to Rhode Island or recently registered to vote in the state would need to wait until they had met the two-year residency and voter registration requirement before they could legally take office, even if they won an election. Current officeholders and long-established Rhode Island residents would be unaffected by this requirement.

The bill was introduced in the Rhode Island Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, with a hearing scheduled for April 2026. It has not yet been passed or approved by voters.