N.Y. Public Service Law § 7: Organization and records; minutes as evidence; destruction of certain records

§ 7. Organization and records; minutes as evidence; destruction of

certain records. 1. The commission shall have a secretary and assistant

secretaries to be appointed by the chairman. It shall be the duty of the

secretary to keep a full and true record of all proceedings and a

transcript of the public sessions of the commission. The record of the

proceedings of the commission shall be prima facie evidence of the

proceedings of the commission. The transcript of public sessions shall

be made available in the Albany and New York city offices that the

commission maintains. The chairman shall have charge of the organization

of its office, shall assign its employees to the several divisions or

bureaus and shall superintend the performance of their duties. The

secretary and assistant secretary, each commissioner and each hearing

officer or person designated to conduct an investigation may administer

oaths in all parts of the state, so far as the exercise of such power is

properly incidental to the performance of his duty or that of the

commission.

2. Such records and general correspondence as are no longer necessary

for the purposes of the commission may be destroyed upon the order of

the commission; but no such record, report or correspondence shall be

destroyed until it shall have been on file for at least five years.

3. Any opinion issued by the commission in a formal commission

proceeding shall include a record of the vote taken indicating the names

of the commissioners who voted in favor and the names of the

commissioners who voted against the opinion. Any statement of dissent

shall be attached to the majority's opinion.