---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MERIT SYSTEM (Allows a classified employee to seek elected office provided that they resign their position upon being elected.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MERIT SYSTEM (Allows a classified employee to seek elected office provided that they resign their position upon being elected.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 2215"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2215 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Archambault", "Burke", "Cano", "Ciccone", "Coyne", "DiMario", "McCaffrey", "Valverde", "de la Cruz"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-02-08"
last_action: "2022-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/30ff33ad-46d1-4506-81dc-9565c3551679"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "91e6aa43447aa839ece68b544a1d7dc018ec1556e4f6424f5f2c70fc964cfeb9"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island SB 2215 (2022) — AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MERIT SYSTEM (Allows a classified employee to seek elected office provided that they resign their position upon being elected.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **2215 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText22/SenateText22/S2215A.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **62–5** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Archambault — primary (person)
- Burke — primary (person)
- Cano — primary (person)
- Ciccone — primary (person)
- Coyne — primary (person)
- DiMario — primary (person)
- McCaffrey — primary (person)
- Valverde — primary (person)
- de la Cruz — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2022-02-08** 02/08/2022 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-02-11** 02/11/2022 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/15/2022)
- **2022-02-15** 02/15/2022 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2022-06-03** 06/03/2022 Scheduled for consideration (06/09/2022)
- **2022-06-08** 06/08/2022 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2022-06-09** 06/09/2022 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-10** 06/10/2022 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/14/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-06-14** 06/14/2022 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2022-06-21** 06/21/2022 Placed on House Calendar (06/22/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-06-22** 06/22/2022 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2022-06-27** 06/27/2022 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-06-27** 06/27/2022 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/30ff33ad-46d1-4506-81dc-9565c3551679`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).