Good morning. It\u2019s Thursday. Today we\u2019ll look at Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s push to end the state\u2019s archaic use of outdated technology, like the fax machine, and examine whether certain councils or task forces may have outlived their purpose.<\/p>\n
State bureaucracies are often known for being inefficient, and New York is no exception. The state has a long-term love affair with task forces and councils, and the reporting requirements are stubbornly analog.<\/p>\n
Instead of using email, which can be sent and received in seconds, state law mandates that agencies use some of the most antiquated technologies still in existence. There are hundreds of instances, for example, where documents are required to be transmitted via either fax or the United States Postal Service.<\/p>\n
The telegram is considered an acceptable way to communicate. In fact, if a serious boiler accident were to occur on one of New York\u2019s last steam trains, state law requires operators to notify the Department of Transportation \u2014 by either phone or telegram.<\/p>\n
But as my colleague Grace Ashford reported this week<\/a>, Gov. Kathy Hochul is looking to put an end to these burdensome requirements, with a little help from artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, she signed an executive order<\/a> calling for state agencies to modernize or eliminate obsolete regulations. The effort is called Regulatory Reset, and it will deploy A.I. to comb though roughly 18 million words of codified statute to find references to fees; signature or notary requirements; fax, mail, telegraph and other outdated technologies; as well as task forces, councils and mandatory reports.<\/p>\n Then human experts will decide what ought to change.<\/p>\n As part of the effort, the state solicited suggestions from agencies and the public and collected more than 4,000 submissions \u2014 many of which mention the absurdity of maintaining a fax machine in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have laws on the books that require a special permit for a woman to work later hours,\u201d Hochul said in an interview. \u201cNo wonder people get so frustrated. So I\u2019m getting rid of that.\u201d<\/p>\n The A.I. tools used for the effort were created in collaboration with the civic tech organization Recoding America and Stanford University.<\/p>\n Prof. Daniel Ho, who directs the Regulation, Evaluation and Governance Lab at Stanford that helped create the A.I. tools, noted that some of the state\u2019s inefficiency stems from required annual reports that are relics of another era.<\/p>\n For example, a McCarthy-era annual report on what measures are being taken to enforce laws against subversive teachers in public schools remains on the books despite being declared unconstitutional in 1967.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we take up all of the time in the civil service to write a bunch of reports that very few people read, that may not be the highest value use, and may actually also be demoralizing for folks who have to work on those reports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n State agencies will examine the results of the A.I. reviews and then decide on changes. Those that need legislative approval will be included in Hochul\u2019s legislative agenda for the coming year.<\/p>\n The announcement comes amid other attempts to improve government efficiency. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a commission to review the city charter to make city government more efficient.<\/p>\n The goal, Hochul said, was to \u201cremove that narrative that New York is hostile to business or an unfriendly place to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n She added, \u201cI want that people have a very different viewpoint of their government that is there for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Weather<\/p>\n Expect a mostly sunny day with scattered thunderstorms and temperatures around 85. There\u2019s a chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight, with a low near 73.<\/p>\n ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING<\/p>\n In effect until July 23 (Tisha B\u2019Av).<\/p>\n QUOTE OF THE DAY<\/p>\n \u201cThey just want a chance, and they have grit.\u201d \u2014 Jeffrey Aronson, co-founder of Centerbridge Partners, on tapping CUNY students<\/a>, as graduates navigate the gloomiest job market since the height of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n The latest New York news<\/p>\n METROPOLITAN diary<\/p>\n Screen time<\/p>\n Dear Diary:<\/p>\n Most weekday mornings, I take my 6-year-old son to school on the subway from Brooklyn into Manhattan.<\/p>\n As anyone who rides the F in the morning knows, it can be about as pleasant as trying to walk through Times Square, only with people\u2019s armpits shoved in your face.<\/p>\n Add to that trying to make sure a 6-year-old doesn\u2019t step on someone\u2019s foot or have a meltdown because you forgot string cheese, and you have a sense of how fraught this trip can be.<\/p>\n So the video ads that now fill the cars are very important. I have conned my son into thinking he\u2019s getting to watch TV, which isn\u2019t allowed at home, on the train.<\/p>\n One morning while we rode a crowded F, my son noticed that none of the video screens in the car were working.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are the screens not working?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, they might be broken,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n My son looked up and down the car.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of them?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Then he shook his head, sighed, pulled his hand out of his pocket and held it to his face. He started pressing imaginary buttons on his hand, and I realized he was pretending it was a cellphone.<\/p>\n He put his hand up to his ear and spoke into it loudly.<\/p>\n \u201cMamdani, Mamdani,\u201d he said. \u201cThe videos on the F train are not working.\u201d<\/p>\n He waited for a response and then spoke again.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean he\u2019s not there?\u201d he said. \u201cWhere is he? Well, go get him.\u201d<\/p>\n Even in my son\u2019s fantasy, the bureaucracy was giving him the runaround.<\/p>\n A moment later, our stop arrived, and my son wrapped up his call: \u201cMy dad says we have to get off the train now, so please give him the message.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Aasif Mandvi<\/p>\n Mr. Mandvi is an actor. He recently completed a run in \u201cFallen Angels\u201d on Broadway.<\/p>\n Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here<\/a> and read more Metropolitan Diary here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Glad we could get together here. C.C.<\/p>\n Davaughnia Wilson, Andy Chen and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n