Regulatory Reset — New York State's AI-Assisted Review of Outdated Rules

In July 2026, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed Executive Order 61 launching 'Regulatory Reset', described as the state's most expansive systematic review of its own rules, pairing an AI scan of the state's regulatory text -- run with Stanford University's RegLab (led by Professor Daniel Ho), the Recoding America Fund, and U.S. Digital Response -- with a public comment process that drew close to 4,000 submissions from all 62 New York counties.

The AI tools processed roughly 18 million words of legal and regulatory text across state agencies, surfacing candidate rules for repeal or simplification. Human reviewers retained oversight and final sign-off at every stage; the AI's role was to surface candidates for review, not to make final regulatory decisions.

A first package of 50 concrete regulatory actions spanning 22 agencies was announced, targeting unnecessary documentation requirements, burdensome fees, and inactive mandated reports and boards. The Governor's office estimates the package will save New Yorkers tens of millions of dollars in fees and compliance costs and more than a million hours of time annually, benefiting over 1.5 million residents.

Because the initiative was only announced in mid-2026, these savings and time figures are the administration's own estimates rather than measured, audited outcomes, and it is too early to say how many of the 50 proposed actions will be formally adopted or what their real-world effect will be.