PROVIDENCE -- After one of the most earnest debates of the session thus far, the House late Thursday approved scheduling a referendum on whether to change Rhode Island's formal name from State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to simply Rhode Island.

If approved by the Senate, the question will be on the November 2010 ballot.

"This bill is just what it is, a question," said its sponsor, Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, one of several lawmakers who have pushed for the referendum question for more than a decade. A name change, he said, would erase a word that recalls the centuries of slavery.

Despite the late hour and exhaustion of lawmakers, most sat rapt in their seats for the entire 60-minute debate. Several even changed their minds from beginning to end, acknowledging that supporters like Almeida had won them over.

Rep. Joseph Trillo, R-Warwick, began the debate criticizing the plan. "Sometimes we start with small ideas and the next thing we know, 10 years later, someone wants to rearrange the marble on the State House," he said. But in the end, Trillo said he would vote in favor of the referendum, out of respect for colleagues who feel strongly that a name change is warranted. The final vote was 70 to 2.

-- Cynthia Needham, Providence Journal State House Bureau