N.Y. Education Law § 375: Capital construction planning

§ 375. Capital construction planning. 1. Construction standards. On or

before July first, nineteen hundred sixty-two, the state university

trustees shall cause to be prepared with the assistance of the fund, the

dormitory authority, the state department of transportation and the

division of the budget, proposed standards for all facilities or classes

of facilities to be constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated

or improved for the state university pursuant to contracts executed on

or after a date thirty days subsequent to the effective date of such

standards. The proposed standards may, in the discretion of the state

university trustees, include, among other things, provisions relating to

the quality and type of materials to be used in such facilities,

provisions for safety, fire protection, health and sanitation,

provisions for the installation of fixtures and equipment in such

facilities and construction features deemed by the state university to

be desirable for academic use or for habitability. The proposed

standards shall be reviewed by the state university trustees and shall

be subject to their approval, disapproval or modification on or before

August first, nineteen hundred sixty-two and in the form approved, shall

be forwarded to the governor for his further approval, disapproval or

modification within thirty days thereafter. The proposed standards shall

be deemed adopted, with or without modifications as the case may be,

upon (i) written approval by the governor or (ii) the expiration of

thirty days after receipt of the proposed standards by the governor from

the state university trustees, whichever occurs first. The effective

date of such standards shall be September first, nineteen hundred

sixty-two. Such standards, in the form adopted, shall be filed by the

state university with the secretary of state in the manner provided by

section one hundred two of the executive law.

Changes in the construction standards so adopted may from time to time

be formulated and proposed, reviewed, approved, disapproved or modified,

adopted and filed in the same manner as the original standards.

2. Design. The fund shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, within the

amounts appropriated therefor or otherwise available, the building

plans, the exterior drawings or models displaying the architectural

concept of the facility, and the detailed plans and specifications for

all construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation and

improvement work to be performed at state-operated institutions or

statutory or contract colleges under the jurisdiction of the state

university. The fund may cause the building plans, drawings, models and

detailed plans and specifications for such work to be prepared under the

direction of the letting agency in accordance with the terms of any

agreement entered into between the fund and such letting agency pursuant

to section three hundred seventy-six of this chapter.

The detailed plans and specifications for any such work to be

performed pursuant to a contract executed on or after a date thirty days

subsequent to the effective date of the construction standards adopted

pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall comply with the

standards in effect at the time the contract is executed.

Subject to the terms of any agreement entered into between the fund

and the letting agency pursuant to section three hundred seventy-six of

this chapter, the fund may from time to time modify, or authorize

modifications to, such detailed plans and specifications provided (i)

that the plans and specifications as so modified shall comply with the

construction standards, if any, adopted pursuant to subdivision one of

this section and in effect at the time of the modification, and (ii)

that such modifications are made after consultation with the state

university, and (iii) that in the event a contingency fund is

appropriated to the fund to pay the added costs during the then current

state fiscal year of all modifications made in the course of

construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation and

improvement of facilities for the state university, no such modification

may be made or authorized in such fiscal year without the approval of

the director of the budget unless the cost thereof shall be less than

five per centum of the total estimated cost of the facility as set forth

in the budget bill referred to in subdivision one of section three

hundred seventy-six of this chapter, but in no event shall any such

modification be made or authorized in such fiscal year if the cost

thereof, plus the cost of all modifications theretofore made or

authorized during the same state fiscal year, would exceed the amount of

the contingency fund appropriated for the purpose of such modifications,

and (iv) that in the event a contingency fund is not appropriated for

the purpose of such modifications, no such modification involving an

estimated expense of ten thousand dollars or more shall be made or

authorized without the prior approval of the director of the budget.

3. Municipal regulations. No county, city, town or village shall have

power to modify or change the plans or specifications for facilities to

be constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated or improved for

state university purposes, or the construction, plumbing, heating,

lighting or other mechanical branch of work necessary to complete the

work in question, nor to require that any person, firm or corporation

employed on any such work shall perform such work in any other or

different manner than that provided by such plans and specifications,

nor to require that any such person, firm or corporation obtain any

other or additional authority or permit from such county, city, town or

village as a condition of doing such work, nor shall any condition

whatever be imposed by any such county, city, town or village in

relation to the work being done pursuant to this article, but such work

shall be under the sole control of the supervising architect or engineer

in accordance with the drawings, plans, specifications and contracts in

relation thereto; and the doing of any such work for the fund by any

person, firm or corporation in accordance with the terms of such

drawings, plans, specifications or contracts shall not subject said

person, firm or corporation to any liability or penalty, civil or

criminal, other than as may be stated in such contracts or incidental to

the proper enforcement thereof.