N.Y. Legislative Law § 25: Duties of the commission

§ 25. Duties of the commission. The commission shall:

1. Draft or aid in drafting or examine legislative bills and

resolutions and amendments thereto, upon request of a member or

committee of either house of the legislature;

2. Advise as to the constitutionality, consistency or effect of

proposed legislation upon request of a member or committee of either

house of the legislature;

3. Make researches and examinations as to any subject of proposed

legislation upon request of either house or of a committee of either

house of the legislature;

4. Expend monies made available to the commission by appropriation for

the employment of personnel, including temporary services, and for

expenses of maintenance and operation, including labor, materials,

office supplies, communication equipment, furniture, alterations,

repairs, furnishings, purchase of books, development and operation of

systems in support of the legislature and traveling expenses, and for

services and expenses related to the legislative printing for the

legislature contract pursuant to section four of the New York State

printing and public documents law, including with respect to such

contract the printing of bills, additional copies of bills, the printing

and binding of session laws and the classification of appropriations

(black book), the senate and assembly journals and certain other

miscellaneous documents and messages set forth in such section four; and

for services and expenses incurred in the installation, rental,

development, maintenance and operation of centralized data processing

systems, programs and equipment for the creation of a data bank

containing the official statutes of the state and miscellaneous

information, including, but not limited to, the text of the rules and

regulations of state agencies as filed with the secretary of state for

use in the preparation and composition of bills; preparation and

composition of calendars, journals, session laws and miscellaneous

documents; the operation of a bill status retrieval system for the

senate and assembly; and the development of a statutory and other

miscellaneous information retrieval system for the legislature and other

entities; and for services and expenses related to the contract for the

printing, publication and distribution of the State of New York

Legislative Digest pursuant to section five of the New York state

printing and public documents law. Such funds shall be expended upon

approval of the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the

assembly or their respective designees, notwithstanding and unrestricted

by the provisions of any general or special law. All products purchased

shall be recycled products, which meet contract specifications, unless

the only available product does not contain recycled content, and

provided that the cost of the recycled product does not exceed a cost

premium of ten percent above the cost of a comparable product that is

not a recycled product or, if at least fifty percent of the secondary

materials utilized in the manufacture of that product are generated from

the waste stream in New York state, the cost of the recycled product

does not exceed a cost premium of fifteen percent above the cost of a

comparable product that is not a recycled product. For the purpose of

this section and until July first, nineteen hundred ninety-six,

"recycled product" shall mean any product which has been manufactured

from secondary materials, as defined in subdivision one of section two

hundred sixty-one of the economic development law, and meets secondary

material content requirements adopted by the office of general services

under subdivision one of section one hundred seventy-seven of the state

finance law for products available to the senate under state contract

or, if no such contract for such product is available, any product which

meets the secondary material content requirements adopted by the

secretary of the senate, or such other officers or employees of the

senate as the temporary president of the senate shall designate, and the

clerk of the assembly, or such other officers or employees as the

speaker of the assembly shall designate, respectively, with respect to a

specific commodity procurement by such entity. On and after July first,

nineteen hundred ninety-six, "recycled product" shall mean, for the

purposes of this section, any product which has been manufactured from

secondary materials, as defined in subdivision one of section two

hundred sixty-one of the economic development law, and which meets the

requirements of subdivision two of section 27-0717 of the environmental

conservation law and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto. Whenever

purchasing or causing the purchase of printing on recycled paper

pursuant to this section, the secretary of the senate, or such other

officers or employees of the senate as the temporary president of the

senate shall designate, and the clerk of the assembly, or such other

officers or employees as the speaker of the assembly shall designate,

respectively, shall require the printed material to contain the official

state recycling emblem established pursuant to subdivision two of

section 27-0717 of the environmental conservation law and regulations

promulgated pursuant thereto if such paper has been approved by the

department of environmental conservation as satisfying the requirements

of such statute and regulations, or, if such paper has not been so

approved, require the printed material to include a printed statement

which indicates the percentages of pre-consumer and post-consumer

recycled material content of such paper.