N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 3554: General powers of the corporation

§ 3554. General powers of the corporation. Except as limited by this

title, the public health law, the mental hygiene law, the social

services law, the education law, the civil practice law and rules or any

other applicable law or regulation, the corporation shall have power:

1. to sue and be sued and to participate in actions and proceedings,

whether judicial, administrative, arbitrative or otherwise and, except

as is otherwise provided in subdivision four of section thirty-five

hundred sixty-one of this title, the court of claims shall have

exclusive jurisdiction in all actions against the corporation for money

damages;

2. to have a corporate seal, and to alter such seal at pleasure, and

to use it by causing it or a facsimile to be affixed or impressed or

reproduced in any other manner;

3. to purchase, receive, take by grant, gift, devise, bequest or

otherwise, lease, or otherwise acquire, own, hold, improve, employ, use

and otherwise deal in and with, real or personal property, or any

interest therein, wherever situated;

4. to purchase, take, receive, subscribe for, or otherwise acquire,

own, hold, vote, employ, sell, lend, lease, exchange, transfer, or

otherwise dispose of, mortgage, pledge, use and otherwise deal in and

with, bonds and other obligations, shares, or other securities or

interests issued by others, whether engaged in similar or different

business, governmental, or other activities;

5. to accept subventions from other persons or any unit of government;

6. to sell, convey, lease, exchange, transfer or otherwise dispose of,

or mortgage or pledge, or create a security interest in, all or any of

its property, or any interest therein, wherever situated, upon such

terms and conditions and in such manner as the corporation shall

determine;

7. to make capital contributions to other not-for-profit corporations;

8. (a) to offer participation in the New York state and local

employees' retirement system for all its officers and employees, and to

establish and carry out other retirement plans authorized pursuant to

the retirement and social security law, which may be offered to all of

its officers and employees not participating in the New York state and

local employees' retirement systems, and to establish and carry out

other incentive and benefit plans, trusts and provisions for any or all

of its officers and employees, subject to the applicable provisions of

article fourteen of the civil service law; (b) provided, further, that

employees of the corporation established pursuant to section thirty-five

hundred fifty-three of this article who are division and department

chairpersons holding scientific degrees, scientific faculty members such

as assistant members, associate members, members, distinguished members,

or who have graduate faculty status at the level of assistant professor

or above at the Roswell Park graduate division of the state university

of New York at Buffalo and as certified by the dean of the division,

facility directors, and those employees who are in titles such as

president and chief executive officer, senior vice president, vice

president, assistant vice president, general counsel, and executive

director, and who are eligible to participate in the New York state and

local employees' retirement system may elect, within ninety days of the

effective date of this paragraph or within ninety days of becoming

eligible to participate in such system, in lieu of participating in such

system, to participate in the optional retirement program available to

employees of the state university of New York pursuant to article

eight-B of the education law, subject to the terms and conditions of

that article and to the provisions of the retirement and social security

law;

9. to be a promoter, partner, member, associate or manager of other

not-for-profit activities or business enterprises or ventures, or to the

extent permitted in any other jurisdiction to be an incorporator of

other corporations of any type or kind;

10. except as limited by state law or regulation, to fix, compromise

and collect rates, rentals, fees, lease payments and other charges for

the services rendered by it or for use of the facilities owned,

controlled or administered by, or in the exercise of the powers of, the

corporation;

11. to make contracts, give guarantees and incur liabilities, borrow

money at such rates of interest as the corporation may determine, issue

notes, bonds and other obligations, and secure any of its obligations by

mortgage or pledge of all or any of its property or any interest

therein, wherever situated;

12. to issue bonds for any of its corporate purposes or its projects,

or to refund the same, and to provide for the rights of the holders

thereof;

13. to lend money, invest and reinvest its funds, and take and hold

real and personal property as security for the payment of funds so

loaned or invested;

14. to conduct the activities of the corporation and have offices and

exercise the powers granted by this title in any jurisdiction within or

without the United States;

15. to appoint such officers, employees and agents as the corporation

may require for the performance of its duties and, subject to applicable

provisions of agreements negotiated pursuant to article fourteen of the

civil service law, to fix and determine their qualifications, duties,

and compensation;

16. to retain or employ counsel, auditors, and engineers, subject to

applicable provisions of agreements negotiated pursuant to article

fourteen of the civil service law where appropriate and, private

consultants on a contract basis or otherwise for rendering professional,

management or technical services and advice;

17. to make, adopt, amend, enforce and repeal rules for its governance

and internal management and personnel practices, subject to article

fourteen of the civil service law, where applicable;

18. to make and alter by-laws for its organization and management,

and, subject to agreements with its bondholders, to make and alter rules

and regulations governing the exercise of its powers and the fulfillment

of its purposes under this title;

19. to designate the depositories of its money;

20. to establish its fiscal year;

21. to insure or otherwise to provide for the insurance of the

corporation's property or operations and against such other risks as the

corporation may deem advisable; and

22. to do all things necessary, convenient or desirable, including

ancillary and incidental activities, to carry out its purposes and for

the exercise of the powers granted in this title.