Regulatory reform has evolved through three waves: the first focused on cutting red tape, the second introduced review cycles, and the third prioritized transparency and public accessibility.

Records management policy was once treated as an administrative function. Now, it sits at the center of governance, compliance, and public trust.

Nearly a decade ago a new wave of regulatory reform began to percolate across the United States. There had been previous attempts to cut red tape, my favorite example being the Clinton-era Paperwork Reduction Act, which, somewhat ironically, required more paperwork to reduce regulations.

When government agencies use software to create, manage, or publish regulations, those systems are subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

Is enterprise SaaS dead? No. Not exactly. In fact, I think the enterprise application layer is best positioned to capture the gains AI has to offer. It’s just a matter of how thoughtfully and how quickly enterprise SaaS companies adapt.

When government agencies use software to create, manage, or publish regulations, those systems are subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

By April 2026, every government agency will be required to meet modern ADA and Section 508 standards across all digital content — not just websites. The deadline is fast approaching, and the expectations are clear.

Alaska’s push for efficiency is real and the pressure on agencies is too. Alaska’s administrative orders on government efficiency and regulatory reform have been in place for months now, and the impact is hitting every agency. The mandate is straightforward: coordinate better, move faster, document cleanly, and modernize how work gets done.

Across government agencies in the United States, many rulemaking teams still rely on email chains, spreadsheets, and untracked review cycles.

Ensuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a critical legal and ethical obligation for state agencies. For agency leaders, policymakers, and public administrators, understanding these requirements is essential to avoid significant legal, financial, and reputational damage.

State and local governments employ more than 20 million Americans—roughly one in eight members of the U.S. workforce. These employees deliver essential services every day: protecting communities, maintaining infrastructure, driving economic growth, and supporting public health and education.

Every agency needs to prove that their staff know and understand critical policies. Those that don’t face millions in fines and legal penalties. Just having the policies in place isn’t good enough. You have to demonstrate that your employees know those policies.

Policy research is the practice of finding and analyzing existing public policies, programs and initiatives. The goal is to provide evidence-based information to shape policy decisions and improve the effectiveness of government services.

Fire departments are facing increasing legal, operational, and public safety challenges without policy frameworks to lean on. What cities and their fire departments need is a comprehensive guide to developing, implementing, and managing fire department policies and procedures in plain language — that’s exactly what you’ll get below.

Many government agencies today still manage policies using outdated, manual workflows, such as passing documents around for review, tracking changes in spreadsheets, or searching through email chains for approvals.

When Salt Lake County auditors discovered that **12 % of all county policies were outdated—some naming departments that no longer exist—**it wasn’t just an administrative footnote. Out‑of‑date rules translate into compliance gaps, employee frustration, and public‑trust headaches.

City leaders know that policies are the invisible framework holding local government together. From HR rules to public safety procedures, policies guide staff in delivering services and complying with laws.

Local government change management fails 80% of the time, largely because it’s treated like an afterthought. This guide offers a framework to help agencies overcome cultural inertia, bureaucratic slowdowns, and outdated systems with examples from states already seeing results.

Every state agency, county, and city runs on internal policies: the rules that tell employees how to hire, spend, secure data, and protect the public. Yet most governments still manage those rules with a patchwork of Word docs, email chains, SharePoint folders, and three-ring binders.

At Esper, we partner with state and local governments every day to modernize how policies are drafted, approved, and maintained. In a moment when the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is rapidly shifting responsibilities from Washington to the states, uncertainty can slow action and increase risk.

Running a Department of Health isn’t for the faint of heart. You’re balancing fast-moving regulations, emergency response, strategic initiatives, and community outreach — and somehow, you’re expected to do it all with tighter budgets and higher expectations.

Microsoft Word remains a foundational tool for drafting and editing policy documents across government agencies. It is widely used, intuitive, and flexible for early-stage writing. However, policy management is far more than document creation.

Top Trends in Public Safety: A Preview from Esper’s Policy Lab Over the past few years, public safety and corrections have undergone a remarkable transformation, with lawmakers nationwide balancing the need for secure facilities against rising calls for inmate rights and comprehensive rehabilitation.

Government policies impact nearly every aspect of daily life—whether it’s healthcare regulations, public safety guidelines, or education policies. Yet, many citizens remain disconnected from how policies are created, updated, and enforced. A well-managed policy system ensures transparency, efficiency, and accountability, directly influencing the quality of governance and public services.

Dear Valued Customers and Partners, When Esper was founded in 2018, our mission was clear: to simplify the complexities of regulation and policy, empowering governments to deliver better outcomes for the residents they serve. Fast forward to today, and we are proud to share that Esper has been named to the GovTech 100 list for the fourth consecutive year in 2025.

Esper has announced the release of Smart Search, a revolutionary tool purpose-built for government organizations to simplify how users interact with complex policy and regulation content. Unlike broad-market AI chatbots and generic search tools, Smart Search is designed specifically for the nuanced needs of the public sector.

Crafting effective policies is a top priority for proactive governments. By adopting strategic approaches, agencies can create regulations that truly serve their communities. These are our top pieces of advice for proactive governments looking to make the best possible policy for residents:

We’re lucky to partner with dozens of government agencies across the United States, and while adopting policy management software is often a huge upgrade for our customers, the modernization process understandably brings up questions.

Esper is proud to announce our latest partnership with the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, our first customer in the state of North Carolina.

We meet with dozens of government agencies every single month to learn about how they develop and publish policy. Some have more sophisticated processes than others, some have technology in place, and others are starting from scratch. But the one thing they all have in common? They’ve experienced unwanted or unnecessarily complex litigation due to policy.

Is your agency considering building an internal solution to manage policymaking? Here a few reasons why now more than ever, governments are choosing software over time intensive, home-brewed solutions.

Esper is quickly gaining rapport as the system of record for statewide regulation and policy management. In Fall 2023, we announced our third statewide implementation over the course of just two years. We’re proud to support all executive branch agencies in Iowa, Montana, and Tennessee in their regulatory processes.

Technology can play a vital role in enabling government agencies to meet operational standards. But it’s not just about modernizing processes or upgrading systems; it’s about revolutionizing how agencies function and making them more efficient overall.

Government agencies often face the same obstacles in policymaking: approval delays, departmental silos, and paper-heavy processes. These bottlenecks don’t just slow work, they increase compliance risk and make it harder to deliver transparent, timely policy.

Policymaking is mission critical for governments. Government agencies need to ensure that whatever tools and software they use for their policymaking- whether regulatory or non-regulatory- meets strict government security standards, especially when it comes to any public-facing components.

Ready to take the next step and purchase policy management software for your agency, but not quite sure where to start? This post explains how government software procurement works and offers a checklist of items to consider before initiating a new procurement.

“I’m often sharing a Microsoft Word document with over a dozen people for feedback and edits. By the time everyone shares their input, I’ve lost track of the right policy version and we’re way behind schedule.” This is a real quote from a Policymaking Coordinator we recently met with, and we have hundreds of other painful document version history control examples just like this.

As a government leader, one of your top priorities is to balance a large volume of policymaking with limited staff and resources. It can be challenging to keep track of policy projects, identify potential risks and ensure your team stays on course. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions such as Esper can give you the visibility you need to enhance your agency’s policy management.

Is your agency drowning in manual policy processes that take months to complete? Are you seeing weeks pass by wasted while your team chases policy approval? You’re not alone. Government agencies lose an average of 25% more time on policy reviews due to fragmented systems and outdated workflows.

Culture starts at the top of any organization. The tone set by leadership trickles down through government agencies and makes an enormous difference in the motivation and productivity of agency staff. Did you know that managing and motivating staff was cited as the biggest challenge by government leaders in a recent survey from the Center for Creative Leadership?

Bills, bills, bills. No, not those kinds of bills. ???? We’re talking about the hundreds, even thousands, of bills in state legislatures right now. Most state governments are in the thick of the legislative session, a particularly chaotic time for all stakeholders, especially executive agencies.

Tired of hunting down old files or chasing down the next step in your policymaking process? Or perhaps you are looking for faster ways to research and compare policies? Wish you had an easy way to track policy attestation? Esper works with dozens of government agencies, and we can assure you—you’re not alone.

It's our five year anniversary! That's five years of empowering governments to create more data-driven and equitable policies.

Pave the way to a paperless government with a centralized platform to write, review and store policies.

Esper, a leader in policy management software, was named to the 2023 GovTech 100 list of innovative government technology solutions.

Our latest guide walks you through how to develop a policy game plan to set up incoming administrations for success.

Esper chatted with former NYC CTO John Paul Farmer to learn how agencies can digitize critical services with government software.

The latest feature of Esper’s policy management solution allows governments to conduct retrospective reviews of their regulations.

Esper is excited to announce we will be hosting a fire-side chat at State of GovTech 2022.

In this article, we look at how agencies can leverage Esper’s policymaking platform for a successful government software implementation.

Esper, a leading provider of cloud-based policy software, today announced it has received FedRAMP authorization.

The latest feature to Esper's public policy software allows governments to streamline collaboration on internal policy documents.

Former Kentucky CIO Chuck Grindle shares key insights on how governments can move their policy management process into the cloud.

Montana Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras shares how she and Governor Greg Gianforte kick-started their state-wide Red Tape Relief initiative.

In this blog, we outline critical features of a modern Policy Library that’s user-friendly for the public and government.

In this blog post, we’ll outline a practical guide to mapping your health policy landscape and understanding how you can better coordinate policy agendas to meet goals and stay in compliance with federal statutes and regulations.

In 2020, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a multi-year, $9.9 million contract to Esper Regulatory Technologies, Inc., which was used by the Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to deploy the Esper platform in August of 2021.

On January 6, 2022, The Department of Treasury issued their final rule on the SLFRF program. This ruling is set to help policymakers tremendously.

Each year, Government Technology compiles and publishes their GovTech 100 list. These 100 companies are focused on partnering with state and local governments across the U.S. to help improve service delivery and operations. The GovTech 100 included 18 new companies for 2022—including Esper.

We identified eight key milestones that encompass the policymaking lifecycle, and discuss the challenges and opportunities for improvement in each step. By mapping the policy lifecycle, we diagnose areas where feedback can be strengthened, and recommend tools that can help policymakers accomplish their best work.

Government is shifting from on-prem into the cloud. Check out the benefits of a SaaS policy management solution.

As you settle into your post-session routine, we wrote five helpful tips for how to approach upcoming regulatory changes.

Regulatory review doesn’t have to be an impossible undertaking, and getting it right has enormous benefits both to our citizens and civil servants.

Government agencies are all feeling the strain of a rapid, unplanned shift to remote working. Esper helps tackle these challenges with our easy to use software.

Esper is purpose-built to simplify the policymaking process. Before Esper, the majority of our government clients relied on legacy IT systems and paper-based processes for policy activity. We gathered the most common success stories from our customers describing how Esper’s technology improves and automates processes to help regulators focus on content and outcomes.

Modern technology can amplify the application of network theory in government to create more feedback loops between the public and private sector.

New developments in natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies have allowed the creation of new platforms to uniquely serve the needs of regulatory agencies.

The process for creating and enacting public policy in government is part art, part science.

Esper, a leading provider of cloud-based policy management software, is now available for purchase on AWS Marketplace.

We’re here to offer some suggestions for how best-in-class technology can assist police departments when it comes to policy.

Applying leading cloud technology to regulation and policymaking.

A brief guide for how your government can approach licensing reciprocity.

While legislation has high public visibility, its twin sister, regulation, receives far less attention.

I lead product design and brand at Esper, a small but mighty team based in Austin, Texas.

Did you know that the government is the largest employer in the United States?

2018 is perhaps one of the most exciting times for civic engagement this country has witnessed in the past several decades.

While government executives and legislators often receive the most press and attention, it is administrative agencies and their respective policies that regularly touch the daily lives of citizens.