Focus, go slow, go small to start off, learn the rules.
That was the advice offered by state Rep. Tina Spears (D-Charlestown) — who joined the Rhode Island House of Representatives as a freshman in 2023 — as she helped orient a group of recently elected state reps.
Spears recounted how she thought she would know what she was doing when she joined the House since she had worked before as a state Senate staffer and visited the Statehouse as an advocate. Boy, was she wrong.
With the heightened profile of a state rep, “You’re going to get asked a lot to participate in everything,” Spears said. Lobbyists, special interest groups and advocates will call them. The new lawmakers will spend time away from their families due to nocturnal committee meetings and the mad rush of legislation at the end of session.
“It will be like drinking from a firehose for things you don’t know,” Spears said, during a morning orientation season in the House chamber on “the freshman experience.”
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.
