Sally Katzen, head of the government's top regulatory and information technology review office, is leaving her position to become deputy assistant to the president for economic policy.
As administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a small but powerful part of the Office of Management and Budget, Katzen has spearheaded the Clinton administration's efforts to overhaul the federal regulatory process. She has also led the government's effort to tackle the year 2000 problem and overseen agencies' information technology reforms required by the 1996 Information Technology Management Reform Act, known as the Clinger-Cohen Act.
Katzen will become deputy director of the National Economic Council, under Gene Sperling.
She has served as OIRA administrator since 1993, longer than any previous OIRA chief. She pushed to open up the regulation-making process and urged agencies to make their rules more results-oriented, rather than focusing on penalties and processes.
The non-profit watchdog group OMB Watch called Katzen's knowledge of regulatory issues "unparalleled," but said more needs to be done to make OIRA more accountable. "She devoted significant time and energy to working on regulatory issues, leaving considerable work still to be done on promoting access to government information," the group said.
Katzen's office assumed IT review responsibilities under the Clinger-Cohen Act, helping to rein in the federal government's huge information systems infrastructure. In that arena, her most critical responsibility was serving as the White House's year 2000 coordinator. She has had to prod agency heads to take the year 2000 problem seriously while at the same time dealing with congressional doomsayers who are predicting catastrophe at the turn of the century. Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., has praised Katzen's efforts, but has also called for a full-time year 2000 coordinator.
"With less than two years to go before potential electronic chaos, the administration needs to focus like a laser beam on this issue," Horn said. "In the wake of Sally's departure, it is time to establish full-time leadership for the federal year 2000 effort."
For now, though, no political appointee will be overseeing year 2000 conversion. Donald Arbuckle, deputy administrator of OIRA, will serve as caretaker for the office until a new chief is picked.
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