Editor’s Note: Ms. Taito’s development of a retrospective regulatory review process demonstates that policy entrepreneurship in state governments is deserving of academic study.
From: Providence Journal
By Paul Grimaldi
PROVIDENCE — The staffer heading Governor Chafee’s regulatory overhaul effort said Friday she will leave her post next week to take “an exciting opportunity in private industry.”
Leslie Taito, who is director of Chafee’s Office of Regulatory Reform, said in a staff memo obtained by The Journal that her last day will be Jan. 9.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at [Office of Management and Budget] and sincerely proud of the accomplishments that ORR has achieved in short period of time,” wrote Taito. “I know that the amazing and talented staff of OMB and ORR will continue to work to implement Governor Chafee’s plan and achieve a clear, predictable and reliable regulatory system in Rhode Island.”
With an eye toward that plan, Chafee has made regulatory review a priority in recent years.
He chose Taito to lead that effort.
Prior to her joining the Chafee administration, Taito was executive director of the nonprofit Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Service.
The review, initially focused on 1,642 regulations that affect small businesses, was undertaken to possibly repeal or revise the most onerous ones.
The effort stemmed from a law the General Assembly passed in 2012 requiring state agencies to review 25 percent of their regulations each year for four years until all regulations affecting small businesses have been evaluated.
Chafee signed the bill into law, but accelerated the process, telling agencies to complete their reviews within 19 months.
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