House Speaker
K. Joseph Shekarchi (D) was first elected
Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives in January 2021; he
was re-elected as Speaker in January 2023 and in January 2025.
From
November 2016 through 2020, he served as House Majority Leader; previously,
he was Chairman of the House Labor Committee. He has served the residents of
District 23 in Warwick since first being elected in November 2012 and has
been a strong proponent of economic development.
Upon his election as
Speaker, Shekarchi pledged to make housing issues the cornerstone of his
legislative initiatives. In three years as Speaker, he has shepherded
almost 50 bills into law that are designed to tackle the state's
housing crisis from multiple angles. Coupled with historic budget
investments, his legislation addresses the long-lagging housing production
rates, catalyzes expanded housing supply, and mitigates upward pressure on
rents and home purchase prices.
Under his leadership, Rhode Island
created its first-ever dedicated funding stream for affordable housing;
banned housing discrimination against individuals who receive government
assistance to pay their rent; created the first Department of Housing headed
by a cabinet level secretary; and invested more than $350 million to address
housing and homelessness in the past two budgets.
During the
2024 session, the General Assembly authorized a bond referendum, which was
approved by voters, to support more affordable housing creation. The
$120 million bond is the largest housing bond in Rhode Island's history.
In the 2023 session, Speaker Shekarchi successfully proposed a $45 million
investment into the life science sector for the development of wet lab
incubator spaces and support grants, loans, business development and
incentives to grow this sector. The budget he championed included the
elimination of tangible taxes for 75 percent of the state's small
businesses.
In 2022, Speaker Shekarchi successfully advocated
for the permanent phase-out of the car tax, eliminating it one year ahead of
schedule; a one-time child tax rebate of $250 per child, for up to three
children per family, for eligible Rhode Island families; an increase of the
“circuit breaker" tax credit available to qualifying elderly and disabled
residents; and to raise the amount of annual pension income exempt from
state taxation.
Speaker Shekarchi enacted legislation in 2022 to substantially increase
renewable energy production and supply, as well as a bill to increase new
offshore wind capacity. This followed up on the achievements of a year
earlier contained within the Act
on Climate, one of the most influential environmental bills approved by
the General Assembly in decades.
Speaker Shekarchi has also been a
strong proponent of economic development. During the 2021 legislative
session, he played a key role in negotiating the agreement
between the State of Rhode Island, IGT and Bally's Corporation , which
resulted in a $250 million economic development plan, secured 1,100
well-paying Rhode Island jobs, and proactively protected Rhode Island's
third-largest source of revenue. Previously, he sponsored the Qualified
Jobs Incentive Act , which created more than 3,000 new well-paying
private sector jobs with no fiscal impact to the state.
In 2021,
Speaker Shekarchi championed the passage of landmark
pay equity legislation , the passage of which had been sought by the
bill's sponsors and supporters for years. The legislation comprehensively
addresses wage discrimination based on gender, race, religion, or sexual
orientation.
Under Speaker Shekarchi's leadership, legislation was
enacted into law in 2021 which set safe
minimum staffing levels for Rhode Island nursing homes while providing
funding to raise wages for direct care staff to help recruit and retain a
stable and qualified workforce; and made the Rhode
Island Promise program permanent, which provides up to two years of free
tuition at Community College of Rhode Island for eligible graduating high
school seniors. He also championed the passages of the
Hope Scholarship Pilot Program Act, which provides the cost of two
years of tuition and mandatory fees for eligible students during their
junior and senior years at Rhode Island College.
He is a graduate
of Mount St. Charles Academy, Class of 1980, and graduated from Suffolk
University in 1984. He returned to Suffolk to earn his law degree in 1990.
In addition to his duties as a legislator, Speaker Shekarchi is a successful
attorney in private practice for over 30 years. He has been the legal
counsel to the Warwick Housing Authority for over 25 years and is a former
Warwick solicitor. Speaker Shekarchi is a lifelong Warwick resident.