R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-40-3: Authority to interchange employees.

(a) Any department, agency, or instrumentality of the state or any city or town or any school, college, or university operated by the state is authorized to participate in a program of interchange of employees with departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the federal government, another state or locality, or other agencies, municipalities, or instrumentalities of this state as a sending and/or receiving agency.

(b) The period of individual assignment or detail under an interchange program shall not exceed thirty-six (36) months, nor shall any person be assigned or detailed for more than thirty-six (36) months during any sixty-month (60) period. Details relating to any matter covered in this chapter may be the subject of an agreement between the sending and receiving agencies. (Elected officials shall not be assigned from a sending agency nor detailed to a receiving agency.)