Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript | Cutting Red Tape: Governor Hochul Announces Launch of Nation-Leading ‘Click to Renew’ Tool to Streamline Licensing for New York’s Small[...]

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the launch of Click to Renew, a nation-leading tool to simplify professional licensing across New York State. By launching an easy-to-use digital platform, Click to Renew allows New Yorkers in a wide range of licensed professions to renew their licenses quickly and securely. Since its soft launch in October, nearly 5,000 licensees have successfully renewed with this new system. On average, licensees using Click to Renew complete the process in under 4 minutes, a 91% reduction from the previous average renewal time of over 45 minutes. The improvements are already delivering a better customer experience, with a 96% approval rating by users on the platform. More than 300,000 license-holders will benefit from the initial launch of this new tool, with further plans to bring the ease and convenience of Click to Renew to additional license types in the near future.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Governor Hochul: But it's great to be back in Harlem. They say if you want to know what's happening in a school, you talk to the lunch ladies, if you want to know what's happening in a community, I talk to the barbers. So I'm great to be here at Fig's. Earl Fig and his wife Unique is here. Thank you for joining us - I'm joining you, actually, this is your place.

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: Thank you for coming.

Governor Hochul: Thanks for letting us crash the party here.

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: We appreciate you 100%.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: Everything you're doing.

Governor Hochul: And our Senator Cordell Cleare, and Assembly Member Jordan Wright - we're very good friends. We saw each other a lot. A lot.

But let's talk about something that I'm so excited about. It's our Click to Renew program, and this is going to do what I promised we would do, which is cut red tape for over 300,000 people who have to get licenses from the Department of State. And our Secretary of State, Walter Mosley, is here, because he knows all about this. And to really just make life easier for our small businesses, and not make government be such a hassle for you.

And, I think about government not being a hassle - we've got Washington, which is beyond a hassle. They're just driving up our costs every single day, and I'm sure you're feeling the effects here in a small business like this, with the cost of tariffs increasing your costs every single day, and for families trying to get their groceries. So we've got Washington government not being helpful, driving up costs, and state government, the exact opposite, trying to reduce red tape and just remove all the hassles of having to deal with us.

So what we did was, listen to voters, we also listened to New Yorkers, and we put out a portal early last year, and asked for New Yorkers their ideas, and small businesses. What are the biggest hassles you're dealing with? What is on your mind? What drives you nuts about state government? And we got a lot of reaction. I probably was going to weigh in myself on a couple of those. But it came to light that there is such a need for us to grab hold of this and do what is smart for people and just look at every aspect of government, and my favorite question is: why? Why are we doing it that way? Why does it take so long? Why do they fill out so many papers? Why do there have to be this many questions, especially for a renewal?

And that's what we're here to talk about today. I want government to work in an effective, efficient way that New Yorkers know is there for them. So we bring our arsenal to help. And I announced a program called Express New York to cut red tape and make New York even more effective. And we announced this, we had 4,000 suggestions in two months. We had to shut down the portals. We could look at the 4,000 ideas. I'm sure we'll get it back up again, Zoe? My staff's back there saying yes, we're going to get it back up again. But one issue we heard about over and over was how hard it is to renew a professional license. I'm talking about barbers, hairdressers, nail specialists, beauty professionals and all of those who rely on that license for their livelihood.

And one salon owner told us the process was so complicated to try and fill this out online. She said, "It would take me less time to drive up to Albany and hand it in person." Okay, that is a failure of government. I'm sorry, that doesn't work for me either. And so I - actually she said it'd be faster if she walked up to Albany, I think she said. Okay, that's pretty extreme. But she thought it'd be quicker to walk up to Albany.

So we're announcing Click to Renew. This is our launch. I'm so excited about this. Builds on what we announced last summer when we used artificial intelligence in a very positive, constructive way to examine all of our rules and regulations and policies, and come up with a list of what is redundant, what doesn't work, what doesn't make sense. And the list was enormous. And my agencies are all looking at them right now, and we've already announced a number of ideas that have cut time and saved money. Literally five million hours of time, already saved by people not having to fill out the forms and all the extra extraneous work.

But now for the first time, you'll be able to renew your license. You ready for this, Earl?

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: On your phone.

Governor Hochul: On your phone. On your phone.

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: What's better than that? Being on your phone, doing your license, sitting at your home relaxing. It can't get any better than that. It's easier. This is a great opportunity for all the barbers and all of us in New York City. You know what I'm saying? Use your phone and get it done.

Governor Hochul: There you go. And you have to do this every four years, and so yours is up next year? You'll be all set.

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: You know who is going to do it? My wife though.

Governor Hochul: Is your phone ready? He just delegated that to you. Typical guy. All right, ladies. I always have fun in barbershops. I always have fun in barbershops. These are great places. But think about it. Normally [it] takes 45 minutes if you can figure it out in the first place. And now they think it's going to take about four minutes? And the reason we know that is that we've already run a test of this, and we had 5,000 people already do this in just the last couple of weeks. 5,000, which is extraordinary. And we always do customer satisfaction surveys. Customer satisfaction is 96%. So in two weeks, 5,000 people, 96% happy with their government. How often does that happen? So we're very excited about this.

And this is what government can do when we listen to the people. We put the ideas out to them. What would you like us to do differently? How can we make your life easier and better? And I've been involved in small businesses. I helped my mother start a small business, a little flower shop, a long time ago. And I was right out of law school, and I couldn't figure out the paperwork. And so I could not imagine what it's like for anyone just trying to deal with everyday life, the cost of living going up, the cost of rents, trying to keep the client base happy, but then also having to worry about government being on your back. Government should not be on your back. Government should be on your side. And I'm here to be a great champion for our small businesses, so our Click to Renew is going to - now I said to my team, "We're going next, right?" It's not just these ones. We should be able to do notaries and real estate professionals and the whole list. It's coming your way. Let me just get through this one first, and we'll be on to the next one.

But, as long as I'm the governor, I will always lift up our small businesses, the backbone of our communities, and especially when you come to a place like this. Figs, you've been here about 28 years, and this is just an icon, and people I'm with all the time say they actually come in here and get their hair done. So you do a good job, man.

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: And y'all got me a new client, too. He's coming here for days.

Governor Hochul: You do women?

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: You too.

Governor Hochul: You do women?

Figs Barber Shop Owner Earl Figueroa: You too.

Governor Hochul: You do women? Because I could use it, for sure. But no, it is great to be here, and I want to just say how proud I am of this and my whole team that worked on this and our Secretary of State and our team here. This is how government can deliver. And we're doing it right here in Harlem today and announcing this and making sure the word gets out. So thank you very much, everybody, and I appreciate you coming out.