Amid budget ‘crisis,’ Maryland looks to modernize government

Much of the talk in recent days has been about President Donald Trump’s federal Department of Government Efficiency, which he established by executive order this week, just hours after taking office.

But separate from that initiative’s promises of saving trillions of dollars from the federal budget and bringing government technology in line with the private sector, Maryland is looking to modernize and streamline its state government operations ahead of what it calls the “worst budget crisis in twenty years.”

Gov. Wes Moore earlier this month signed an executive order directing every state agency to work alongside the Governor’s Office of Performance Improvement to analyze data and find “operational cost savings, streamline operations, and eliminate redundancies to better serve taxpayers.”

The order comes as the state facs a worse fiscal future than the Great Recession of 2008. Maryland officials said one-time federal rescue funding during the COVID-19 pandemic did not fix the state’s yearslong structural deficit.

"In partnership, we are making government more effective and tackling challenges that have gone overlooked for years," Moore said in a statement. "This new initiative will cut waste, save taxpayers money, and help us make Maryland the most efficient state in the country."

The order says the Office of Performance Improvement, which has existed since 2015, shall help improve agencies “through greater accountability, coordination, and capacity building.” It will develop and implement various modernization initiatives in a bid to help the state strategically manage its resources, maintain fiscal sustainability, ensure the highest return on investment for public dollars and eliminate duplication and fragmentation among state agencies.

Those departments will be required to take a data-driven approach to improving their performance and decision making, including by tracking their progress against a soon-to-be-developed State Comprehensive Plan, holding regular reviews with executive leadership, identifying areas for improvement and building capacity to support what the order calls a “data-driven, action-oriented culture” in state government.

Every agency will be required to appoint a performance lead to work with the statewide performance improvement office to determine agencies’ progress, analyze data and find areas of improvement. The office will work closely with the state’s Department of Budget and Management, the Department of General Services and the Department of Information Technology.

“By looking closer at our operational data, we will be able to be better stewards of taxpayer dollars while making sure state employees have what they need to do their jobs,” Governor’s Chief Performance Officer Asma Mirza said in a statement.

This data-driven approach has echoes of the efforts undertaken by former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who leaned on statistics to improve performance in state government and in his time as mayor of Baltimore. The latter effort, known as CitiStat, looked to reduce crime throughout the city by using data-driven policing but came under fire for appearing to embrace zero-tolerance policing.

Moore hopes this modernization push will result in big savings. His FY2026 budget proposal includes $50 million in as-yet unrealized savings from government modernization, part of an overall deficit reduction of more than $2 billion. Modernization is intended to cut $2 billion in spending through “cost reduction and cost saving measures,” the governor’s office said, and allow it to redirect spending from underperforming programs to high priority ones.

Separately, Moore unveiled the preliminary recommendations from the Government Efficiency Commission, which is helping to modernize the state’s occupational permitting and licensing processes, among other tasks. That report suggested a slew of changes, including a new review council to facilitate better interagency coordination; a unified permitting portal; and better digital infrastructure for those responsible for credentialing, among others.

Several states have already worked to modernize their permitting and licensing processes, which often were paper-based and reliant on outdated legacy technology. Wisconsin, for example, moved to the cloud and can now more quickly process over 200 types of credential and license.

Modernization has taken many forms in Maryland, too. Three executive orders Moore signed in early January created the Maryland Advanced Air Mobility Council to drive investment in aerial transportation systems and the Digital Infrastructure Group to enhance broadband infrastructure development,.It also streamlined the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives to help commissions better deliver social services to those in need.

Moore said modernization is all part of the plan to make state government more efficient, reliable and predictable, as well as removing barriers to employment for Maryland residents.

“Modernizing State government is not just a talking point for us — it’s a governing philosophy,” Moore said in a statement. “As we continue to create new, good-paying jobs for Marylanders and growing our economy, we need to continue to cut unnecessary red tape.”