PROVIDENCE -- Governor Chafee's administration fought back Tuesday against a key piece of House Democrats' economic development package: a plan to shift certain duties away from the state's environmental, labor, business and economic development agencies to a new, business-oriented "Executive Office of Commerce."
At a sometimes testy hearing before the House Finance Committee, members of Chafee's Cabinet argued that the changes would not make government easier for businesses to navigate.
Instead, they said, it would only add another layer of bureaucracy, cause a government standstill and take time away from their agencies' core activities.
"What Rhode Island needs is policy, not more process. This proposal is long on form and short on substance," said Richard Licht, Chafee's director of administration. "Your goal is laudatory, but I don't think this bill does it."
But House Finance Committee Chairman Helio Melo, D-East Providence, who is the primary sponsor of the proposal, pushed back. He challenged Chafee's Cabinet members to come up with a better plan.
"I think we can all agree on one thing: the current system does not work," Melo said. "We have 9 percent unemployment. We can't get a business in here to save our lives. It doesn't work. If that's not the best way to do it, what is?"
In his testimony, Charles Fogarty, director of the state Department of Labor and Training, did not suggest alternatives.
But he warned that there would be consequences for unemployed Rhode Islanders who receive federal benefits administered by his agency.
Janet Coit, director of the state Department of Environmental Management, said Melo's proposal could also put at risk the Ocean State's renowned natural resources and the tourism economy it drives.