General Assembly of Rhode Island

In January of 1973 an act was passed by the General Assembly of Rhode Island to convene a Constitutional Convention to amend the state's constitution. It was the eleventh convention to gather in the state and only the fifth to be held in a limited form. A limited convention is called to restrict the proceedings to specific prearranged constitutional questions. These included the revision of election laws, the repeal of the prohibition of lotteries, the review of legislator compensation, and the reform of Grand Jury functions in the Judicial System.

The convention opened on September 4, 1973 and the delegates began working on producing an item by item referendum to be voted upon during the Nov. 6th general election of that year. During the month the convention was in session a total of ninety-one proposals were submitted as amendments to the constitution. Of those proposals only seven were approved to be on the election ballot. On November 6, 1973 voters passed five of those seven amendments.

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