House Speaker
K. Joseph Shekarchi (D) is serving his third term as Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, first being elected to the role by his colleagues in January 2021 and then re-elected in January 2023 and 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.
Speaker Shekarchi pledged to make housing issues the cornerstone of his legislative initiatives; since becoming Speaker in 2021, he has shepherded more than 60 bills into law as part of his efforts to address the state's housing crisis. 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 state's first Department of Housing, headed by a cabinet level secretary; and invested historic amounts of state funding to address housing and homelessness, including a $120 million bond referendum, authorized by the General Assembly and approved by voters in 2024, to support the creation of affordable housing.
In the 2025 session, health care was a major focus of his agenda. The state budget enacted into law included more than $40 million toward Medicaid rate increases for primary care providers, $38 million in additional funding for hospital reimbursement rates and direct support payments, and $12 million to increase reimbursement rates at nursing homes as part of the revision to safe staffing laws.
He has also been a champion for healthcare equity and privacy, advocating for passage of the 2024 Health Care Provider Shield Act, which protects medical providers who provide transgender and reproductive health care services in Rhode Island from civil or criminal suits from other states or their residents; the 2023 Equality in Abortion Coverage Act, which ensures insurance coverage for abortion care to individuals on Medicaid as well as state employees; and the Reproductive Privacy Act, which codifies in state law the privacy rights and reproductive freedoms guaranteed by the United States Supreme Court in the case Roe v. Wade and its progeny.
In the 2023 session, Speaker Shekarchi championed a state budget for FY24 that included the elimination of tangible taxes for 75 percent of the state's small businesses. He also led efforts to create a hub for the life science sector in Rhode Island, successfully proposing a $45 million investment for the development of wet lab incubator spaces and support grants, loans, business development and incentives to grow the industry.
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. In 2024, he spearheaded a new law that was based on feedback from Citizens Bank, one of the state's largest employers, and other banks that Rhode Island's corporate income tax methodology was not aligned with neighboring states. Speaker Shekarchi moved quickly to enact changes to the state's banking tax structure. 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 passage 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.